


A Second Chance

by Rudolphsd



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Big brother Vanitas, Fix-It, Gen, Happy Ending, Lots of Crying, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, The Most Self-Indulgent Thing I Have Ever Written, Time Travel Fix-It, Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts) Redemption, Very fluffy, also lots of feelings, aqua is a disaster lesbian, aqua's new game +, aquarella is one sided sorry but it's still cute i promise, bbs fix-it fic 10 years after the game’s release, disaster dad eraqus, drinking game involved, from bbs and kh3 because i can, gratuitous gameplay elements, he's doing his best, i stayed up all night plotting this no regrets, i try to keep dialogue sounding like kingdom hearts with a few notable exceptions, it works out fine tho dw, lots of platonic physical affection because i can, op aqua it's what she deserves, shitty big brother vanitas, sibling bickering featuring ven and vanitas, skipping disney worlds, speeding through disney worlds at the speed of light, terra is doing his best, until it's not, vanitas remembers ux, ven is baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-07-21 04:30:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 53,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19995895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rudolphsd/pseuds/Rudolphsd
Summary: One moment Aqua was alone in the Realm of Darkness, the next she was under the stars the night before the Mark of Mastery exam. She didn't know time travel was possible, but that wouldn't stop her from doing everything she could to save her friends from their terrible fate.Birth by Sleep fix-it fic. Now complete.





	1. The future and the past

**Author's Note:**

> Buckle up folks, especially if you're reading this once it's completed (it's 53k words). Get yourself a nice big glass of water, and stay hydrated with this fun little game.  
> Take a sip every time someone:  
> -cries  
> -ruffles Ven's hair  
> -tells someone they love them  
> -says darkness (or some variation ie dark)  
> Also take a drink if:  
> -Aqua takes a deep breath  
> -Vanitas calls someone 'stupid' or 'idiot' (he can't swear in this one so i had to make do. there's a chapter where you'll basically have to chug the glass)  
> Bonus: take three drinks or finish the drink if the phrase 'second chance' comes up

Chapter 1: The future and the past

The air in the Realm of Darkness was like oil. Aqua felt like it was filled with darkness itself, clogging her lungs and trying to choke the light out of her. She could feel the darkness cling to her. It wasn’t visible, but it drained her energy and her light.

“You have to wake Ven up,” she chanted. “Be their Wayfinder.”

The realm of darkness was unchanging. At first, the lumpy stone protrusions were fascinating, and the blue glow from inside them was comforting. Eventually, the stone became suffocating. It wrapped around her and trapped her, without even the illusion of a starry sky. Even the lights soon felt cold in their own way.

Aqua braced herself on a stone pillar with her hand.

“I just need a little rest.” 

Every time she paused, her heart lurched with guilt. There was no hunger or thirst or drowsiness, so why did she have to stop? Every second resting was a second wasted, a second Ven could be awake for, a second to find Terra with. Mickey told her that ten years had already passed. They couldn’t afford to wait a second longer.

Aqua took a deep breath and sat down in a meditation position. Meditation wasn’t rest, not really, but it cleared her mind enough to continue. Most of the time.

Sometimes.

“Don’t be so negative. I’m going to be okay.”

Her master had told her that she needed to relax. _Meditation requires a sound mind and a sound body, and that creates a strong heart._ Deep breath in…

Ven looked so small in the chair. His legs didn’t even hang off the edge-

Deep breath out.

_Terra was always better at this._

If Xehanort was a part of him now, did she fail? Was he not strong enough to defeat him? Was her faith in him misplaced again?

Deep. Breath. In.

_Think blankness, no, not whiteness, not the cold loneliness of Ven’s prison, blank. Void. Darkness. A dark sky, covered in stars like a million lanterns._

A sky full of stars with her friends beside her...

“I want to go back.”

Aqua choked back a sob. The sorrow came like a tidal wave out of nowhere and was overcoming her. Maybe it would be better to let it run its course. She gripped her Wayfinder and cried.

“IwanttogobackIwanttogoback.” Back to watching the stars with her best friends, back to a time where her biggest worry was whether or not she would get a title she didn’t deserve, back to a place where she could fix her mistakes.

She couldn’t hold back the sobs anymore. Tears ran down her face.

“I want to go back.”

This wasn’t productive. This wasn’t helping Ven. This wasn’t helping anyone. But Aqua couldn’t help imagining herself going back in time, back to the last night where good things happened, back to her home. She imagined floating above her body and throwing her heart back back back.

It was funny- she could almost see it happening, as if she really was looking down at her own body and floating away to a place beyond time. It was peaceful, like a drift between what is and what was. 

Suddenly, the peace was broken. The colorless passage melded into a familiar darkness, like a warm evening where nothing was wrong and the stars lit their future with hope.

It was funny- it was like she could see them exactly as they were, gazing at the stars. She could see herself, happier and full of light and hope, gazing up. She approached closer and closer until she could see the tangles in her hair and 

the stars in the sky.

Aqua gasped. She was in a body again- when did she leave? These were her hands and these were her legs and this was her body and 

“Did I actually do it?”

And Terra and Ven looked at her.

Aqua gasped. Her breaths became violent and choppy and she didn’t know whether to cry or laugh or scream. The air was fresh and clean, not like the dank, sickly sweet scent of the Realm of Darkness. There were the stars in the sky, the actual stars! And this was grass and

“Uh… Aqua? Are you okay?”

That was Ven’s voice. His real voice. Aqua whipped her head towards it.

He looked like he always had, like he has just finished playing in a tree or chasing something with his wild hair and wrinkled clothes. Hesitantly, she reached out her hand to his head. 

It connected. She could feel his hair. It was the same contradiction of soft and tangled, wild and young.

Was this a dream? Maybe a Heartless had gotten to her and trapped her in something horrible, a fantasy she never wanted to wake from so they could yank it away and consume her heart when it fell into despair.

“Aqua?”

Aqua looked in the other direction and up and locked with dark blue eyes. The eyes immediately looked away, just like Terra’s always did.

“Terra?”

He knelt down to her level.

“Aqua, are you okay?”

Ven shifted back into her view. “Yeah, what’s going on?”

Would this break her, if it was a dream?

“I don’t care,” she whispered.

Ven shook her shoulder. “Aqua, what are you saying?”

Even if it was only a dream, she could fix her mistakes and bask in the warm presence of her friends for a little while longer.

They were right there, right in front of her. She launched herself at them and wrapped them in her arms, getting them as close as she could.

“I love you guys and I would do anything to protect you. Do you know that?”

Oh, look, she was crying again.

Ven laughed nervously. “I mean you did just say we had an unbreakable connection. Geez, you’re so mushy tonight.”

And she couldn’t even rebuke him on that because she was laughing, laughing in pure joy of having her friends back in her arms, laughing at the stupid comment because it was so Ven-like.

A warm arm returned the embrace.

“Are you okay?” Terra asked. “This isn’t like you.”

She couldn’t tell them.

The realization hit her instantly. Would they even believe her? How would they react to what the future held in store for them? If she said something, would the illusion break? For now, at least, she had to play along. 

“Y-yeah. I’m sorry, I just had a premonition.”

“What kind of premonition?” Terra was so serious all the time. She loved it. She loved him. 

“A-a bad one, but it’s probably nothing. Everything is going to be okay.”

“Should we tell the Master?” Terra asked. “I haven’t seen this before.”

“It’s, um-” Aqua bit her lip, “pre-test jitters.”

Terra smiled gently. “You’re going to do fine, Aqua. I can feel it.”

Ven finally started to squirm out of her grasp. Reluctantly, she let him go. “You’re both going to do awesome, I just know it!”

The way she remembered it, they sparred that night, all three of them. She only had her own Wayfinder, so she had already given those out. If this really was a second chance, Aqua would do everything in her power to fix things. That meant she couldn’t waste any time that she could be using to prepare for the future.

“I’m going to bed," she said. "We need lots of rest for tomorrow.”

She stood up and held her hands out for Ven and Terra. Terra took it with a playful smile, and she pulled him up, despite him intentionally dragging his weight. Ven refused her hand and got up himself. Aqua smiled at how normal this was.

“Will it be this normal ever again?”

Ven and Terra’s eyes went wide. Did she say that out loud?

“What do you mean?” Ven asked.

“I mean- we might become Masters tomorrow.” Aqua paused. “Only one of us might pass. Will things be the same between us?”

“Sure they will!” Ven held up his Wayfinder to the sky. “Nothing’s ever gonna break us apart, right?”

“Yeah.” Terra nudged her with his elbow. “Lighten up, Aqua. You’re supposed to be the optimistic one.”

“Sorry. It’s just…”

“The premonition,” Ven finished.

“I’ll be better by morning, I promise.” Aqua smiled faintly.

“You sure?” Ven asked.

“Yes. Everything is going to be okay.”

Who was she really saying it to?

Aqua’s room was just as she remembered. She sat on her bed, reveling in its familiar give. It felt like an eternity since Aqua had last sat here. She didn’t want to fall asleep, and she doubted she could, but something in her wanted to curl up under her familiar blankets and rest.

Maybe later, if she fixed things. For now, she had to find out what this was.

Aqua took a deep breath and held out her hand, calling for a Keyblade. Stormfall appeared in her hand like it had never left. 

“So not a Heartless-caused illusion, then.” Relief poured over her as it sunk in. Stormfall was in the Realm of Light, so if she had it, she was in the Realm of Light. Joy flooded through her.

“I’m really back.” Tears started to cloud her vision, but she blinked them away and forced herself to focus. 

But if it was Stormfall, and not Rainfell, that meant that everything she remembered had really happened. To check, she held out her hand and reached for the other Keyblade. Master Keeper appeared without hesitation.

Aqua took a shuddering breath. Her failure was real, but she could fix it. This was a second chance.

“Okay, but how did this even happen?”

Aqua thought back to her desperate prayer in the Realm of Darkness. She wanted to go back, and she did. The only possibility was time travel. But that was impossible.

Right?

Her master would know, but he was probably asleep. Even if he weren’t, he would immediately be suspicious if Aqua asked him about time travel the night before something as important as a Mark of Mastery exam. Aqua knew where the library was, and that was almost as good. Maybe even better.

The library had scared her as a child. At night, the stacks loomed above her like ancient giants looking down at her coldly. But as an adult, Aqua had to deal with death and comatose little brothers and horrific possession. The books weren’t even unnerving now, even if they did turn out to be giants in disguise.

Their master had taught them how to find any library book quickly so their studies would be unhindered by having to ask him every question they had. There was no time travel section in the library, but there was a single book titled Time Travel: A Discussion of Theory and Practice. It was thick, and the title would have intimidated her if she had reached for it before, but it was the only book they had on the subject. Any details would be useful.

There were tables and reading lights in the library, but it might draw someone’s attention. She took the thick tome to the privacy of her room.

When Aqua opened the book, dust flew out from every page. She coughed and blew the rest of the dust away with a small Aero. Once she had recovered, she opened the book to its table of contents. There were several chapters dedicated to different theories of the matter. Every possibility, no matter how far-fetched, seemed to be given its own chapter of discussion. There was even a chapter of the morality of the practice. Aqua huffed. A mechanical explanation would do her little to no good. Luckily, in the conclusion subsection, she saw a section titled “Laws of Time Travel.”

_There are four major rules discovered on time travel:_

_1) The first time an individual travels through time, their body will be left behind._

Well, that explained the weird objective view before Aqua woke up in the past. She had floated into her own body. 

Aqua’s breath caught in her throat. She was possessing her past body. Did she have two hearts, or did she smother the other one? Aqua grabbed at her chest as her breaths became faster and more labored. Was she no better than Xehanort by taking someone else’s body?

“Well, if someone had possessed me to save Ven and Terra, I don’t think I would have minded much.” 

The words calmed her, as if saying them out loud made them more true.

“Is it weird to find comfort in my own voice?”

It didn’t matter. If it became a problem, she would fix it, but she had more important things to do.

_2) One can only travel to a time where a past version of themselves exists._

No problems there.

_3) When a person returns to their own time, they will lose access to the memories they have gained in non-standard time._

Aqua didn’t plan on returning to her own timeline, so that wasn’t a problem either.

_However, the most important rule is the last one._

_4) A time traveler cannot-_

A knock on her door caused Aqua to sit up and slam the book shut.

“Aqua?” Terra’s voice was a soft whisper. “Are you asleep?”

In a quick motion, Aqua slid the tome under her bed. “No, you can come in.”

Her bedroom wasn’t locked. Most of the rooms in the castle had no locks, as there was no point in a place meant to train Keyblade wielders, but each bedroom and bathroom had a lock. Their master had said locks were mostly a social convention, even in places without Keyblades.

Still, she should have locked the door. If Terra were less polite-

“Can’t sleep either?”

Aqua gave Terra a wry smile. “No.”

“Did you at least try to sleep?”

She looked away. There was no point in lying, even if she wanted to. “No.”

Terra sighed. “Aqua, you have to try and get some sleep.”

“Did you try?”

“Yes. But I- I couldn’t.” Terra’s words only made him look more tired. “I figured you would be having similar problems.”

Aqua smiled again. “We really should be getting sleep. Every hour counts.”

“You could start by changing out of your training clothes. Look, you still have your gloves on.”

“If it makes you feel better.”

There was something satisfying about kicking off her shoes and tugging off her armor sleeves. It felt like she could return to being Aqua, student of Master Eraqus, instead of Master Aqua, the warrior with a thousand mistakes on her shoulders. When only her clothes remained, she shoved Terra’s shoulder.

“Turn around!”

Terra obliged with a small laugh. “C’mon, Aqua, how long have we trained together? It’s not a big deal.”

“I still don’t want you to look.”

“Fine. Let me know when you’re done.”

Off came stockings, pants, shirt, chest support. Aqua slipped into a pair of pajamas with Moogles on them. They all had a matching pair, gifted to them during Christmas two years ago. Aqua stroked the soft fabric, lost in the memory.

“Are you done yet?”

“Oh- yeah. You can turn back around.”

He did, sitting next to her on her bed.

“Did you really come all this way just to make me change into pajamas?” Aqua asked.

“No.”

“That’s what I thought.”

“Aqua, I’m really worried about you.” Terra’s voice was firm. “That premonition-”

“I’m okay.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’m nervous about the exam, as you are, but I know things are going to be okay.” Aqua said. She tried to force her tone to be as optimistic as she could manage. “Even if bad things happen, I’m going to do everything in my power to fix them.”

The wry smile looked wrong on Terra. “I wish I had your confidence.”

Aqua forced herself to look directly in Terra’s eyes, and to her surprise, he didn’t look away. 

They were such a nice shade of blue. She would do anything to keep them that way. 

“Terra, what will you do if you fail the exam tomorrow?”

Terra looked away and thought for a second. “I wouldn’t like it, but I would continue training so I could pass it on my second try.”

“What if you failed it because of your darkness?”

Terra grabbed his chest and reeled back as if he had been stung. Perhaps that could have been phrased better. He exhaled and forcibly relaxed.

“I know what this is really about.”

“Y-you do?”

Terra stared at her chest like it was a broken bone: unnerving and horrifying, but something that needed to be watched anyway. “Your heart. It’s filled with darkness.”

Ah. That was... something. It wasn’t a big surprise to Aqua; the darkness from the realm practically covered her like a second skin, weighing her down. She would be more surprised if the boundless eternity of the Realm of Darkness hadn’t affected her.

Terra continued to speak. “It’s how I knew you weren’t okay.” That also made sense; Terra always had trouble discerning emotions and intentions from other people. “What happened? What created all of this darkness?”

Aqua looked at Terra’s heart. It was an ability that only came with years of dedicated training. Ven had yet to even start learning it. Terra’s heart was filled with a strong light. However, small streaks of darkness flickered through it like veins in marble.

“Was your premonition that bad? I don’t understand how this could happen so quickly.”

Aqua said nothing.

“Aqua, what would you do if you failed the Mark of Mastery tomorrow? What if you failed it because of your darkness?”

That was easy. “I wouldn’t care.” It’s not like she deserved the title after all of the mistakes she made. Even if she didn’t pass the Mark of Mastery, she still had the knowledge of the secret of the world and her master’s Keyblade. The title was just a word in the end.

Terra looked crushed. “But… being a Keyblade Master is all we ever dreamed of.” His voice began to rise. “It’s why we’ve been training for over ten years! And now you say you wouldn’t care if your dream didn’t come true? I don’t understand!”

That had been her dream. It was what drove her to train hard for ten years of her life. She wanted to become a Master so she could travel the worlds with her friends and help people. 

But the title had brought no joy. It only pushed Terra and Ven away. And it hadn’t been enough to save them. She hadn’t been enough to save them.

“You don’t need to be declared a Master to help people. In the end, it’s just a title.”

The darkness in Terra’s heart flared. Was it guilt? Anger? Resentment? 

“I’m afraid that if I become Master tomorrow, it’ll come between us.”

Aqua’s words tempered his darkness, and it thinned back out to flickering tendrils.

“That won’t happen. You’re too kind to let it go to your head. If you are named a Master tomorrow, it’s because you deserve it.”

If Aqua had less control, she would have laughed.

_Now that you’re a Keyblade Master, you’ve let it go to your head._

Well, it was Ven who had said that anyway. 

“I think you deserve it too. You’ve worked hard, and you have a good heart.”

Terra smiled. “Thanks, Aqua.”

Crickets sang in the warm night. A soft breeze ruffled the leaves of the trees. Terra was breathing slowly and carefully, like he always did. 

She didn’t realize how quiet the Realm of Darkness was. Now every sound felt like a treasure. Aqua closed her eyes and let them sink in. 

“Are you finally going to sleep?”

Aqua opened her eyes. “I don’t think I can. There’s too much on my mind.”

Terra smiled. “I think I have a solution for that.”

“Do not cast Sleep on me-“

Her body hit the bed before she could finish her protests. As she drifted into sleep, she felt a pillow slide under her head and blankets tuck over her. 

“Good night, Aqua.”

Aqua awoke to the gentle stream of sunlight through the curtains. Birds chirped in the trees, flitting around, feeding their young. She woke slowly at first, enjoying the feeling of the give of the mattress underneath her and the warmth of the blankets. Then the rest of her situation flooded through her mind: the future, her trip back, an impossible second chance. Aqua jolted up, instantly awake. 

She was yanking her clothes on when it hit her- this was the first time she had seen the sun in ten years. Her curtains were thin enough for the sunlight to light her room, but, suddenly, it wasn’t enough. She had to see more. Aqua ripped the curtains opened. Once her eyes got used to the sudden glare, she gasped.

The view was so familiar, but it was as if Aqua was seeing it for the first time. The morning sunlight was a soft gold, filtering through the leaves like a thousand panes of stained glass. The grass on the hills seemed to almost glow. Puffy clouds floated lazily through the sky, a sky so blue it seemed impossible. 

“It’s all so beautiful.” 

Aqua found herself blinking back tears. After being trapped in darkness for so long, The Realm of Light almost glowed in radiance. 

A part of her wished she could just watch the world go by, but she had a mission. Every second that ticked by was a second closer to the Mark of Mastery, where everything would really begin. 

The thought of eating turned her stomach, but she knew that she would need the energy to fight Terra and deal with the aftermath. She walked down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Ven was at the table, shoveling eggs into his mouth like they would run away from him. His plate was spotless otherwise. In contrast, Terra had barely touched his food. Normally he could eat a whole dozen eggs for breakfast, but his plate still had bread and ham on it.

“Mornin,” Ven tried saying through a mouthful of scrambled eggs.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” a familiar voice said.

And then Aqua saw Master Eraqus.

It’s not exactly like she forgot about him in the future. He was present every time she swung his Keyblade in the Realm of Darkness. Sometimes she thought she could feel him through the Keyblade, encouraging her forward or critiquing her technique. 

But in her jubilation of seeing Terra and Ven, she forgot that she could save him too.

Aqua forced herself to keep her face neutral as she grabbed a plate and loaded it with eggs, ham, and a slice of toast. “Good morning, Master.”

“Good morning, Aqua. Did you sleep well?”

“More than I was expecting.” She glared at Terra. “Did you get any sleep?”

“Hardly any,” Terra said.

This was her first meal since the Realm of Darkness. She had gotten tired of eggs quickly during training, but the taste was nostalgic now. Light, sound, animals, food… it was like the Realm of Darkness withheld life itself. But Aqua survived. And she would make sure her family did as well.

The second Aqua entered the hall, her heart froze.

Her master was seated in the left seat. An aura of formality surrounded him like the white robe he wore. But on the right seat sat Xehanort. He lounged on the chair as if it were his throne and the world was his kingdom. His face was the picture of placid friendliness, but his snake-yellow eyes were cold and detached. How did she miss it before?

Aqua took a deep breath and stood at attention next to Terra. Luckily, she couldn’t see Xehanort when she stared deep ahead. She could focus her mind on the test. Balls of light that would attack Ven, but he could handle it… sparring with Terra...

Hm. That would be interesting. Her spells were at a much higher level than Terra’s at the current point in time. Would her Keyblade technique be the same? Should she let Terra win the match so he could pass the Mark of Mastery? No way. Almost everyone, especially Terra, would know if she performed at anything less than her best. No plan for the exam would hold water once it began. Aqua just had to hope for luck.

Ven ran into the hall and stood at attention at the side of the hall. It had begun.

“Today, you will be examined for the Mark of Mastery.” The first time, Aqua had hung on to every word that Master Eraqus spoke. This time, she only caught every other word.

“...our guest, Master Xehanort...”

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

“I trust you are ready.”

“Yes,” Terra and Aqua said in unison.

“Then let the examination begin.”

Master Eraqus raised his Keyblade and summoned the balls of light, but Aqua sensed movement at the corner of her eye and turned her head slightly.

Xehanort made a motion with his hand, and the orbs changed course, heading towards Ven.

“It was you,” she muttered. She didn’t mean to, but Ven and Terra caught it anyway, and looked at her for a split second before returning to the balls of light circling closer.

Ven first. Xehanort later.

Ven eyed the orbs wearily. He summoned his Keyblade and leapt back. “Don’t worry about me. You two focus on the exam!”

“I know you can take care of yourself, Ven,” Aqua said.

“Yeah, you’ve been training as hard as we have,” Terra said.

Despite their words, a silent understanding passed through her and Terra. They focused all of their attacks on the orbs closest to Ven, making sure one would only reach him once he had defeated the one he was attacking at the moment. Aqua had to remind herself to restrain her magic. She knew she could clear the room with a single Thundaga, but she wouldn’t be able to explain why. Rainfell was in her hand instead of Stormfall, but it was still a force of nature around her. Her fighting style had always been graceful, but now it had sharpened and simplified. Not a single movement was wasted. Rainfell felt every bit like the weapon it was. 

Terra was doing well on his orbs. He managed to perform a flawless spell combo interspaced by strikes. Every attack from the orbs was blocked. It was textbook mastery.

Before Aqua knew it, the orbs were all gone. Aqua lowered her Keyblade and turned back to the masters. Master Eraqus was looking over Ven to make sure he wasn’t injured. Xehanort wasn’t looking at Ven at all. He was smiling at them, but it was tinged with satisfaction, like a beast looking at prey he knew was his.

Cold anger shot through Aqua for an instant. She would die before she let Terra be his puppet again.

Master Eraqus began speaking again. Aqua snapped back into attention.

“That was unexpected… but one must keep a still heart even in the most trying of circumstances. It was an excellent test, one I chose to let unfold. Which brings us to your next trial. Now, Terra and Aqua, the two of you will face each other in combat. Remember, there are no winners- only truths, for when equal powers clash, their nature is revealed.”

She turned to face Terra. His body was coiled like an animal preparing to strike.

“Begin!”

Aqua had worried that she would be too aggressive in her fight with Terra, that her instincts would take over and she would strike him to the ground, but fighting him was like slipping into a worn boot- automatic and effortless. She had missed their dance.

Terra attacked first, as he always did, with powerful, controlled strikes. Aqua leapt and dodged as Terra pressed forward, then pushed him back with punishing strikes of her own.

Terra retreated desperately, which was unusual for him. Any second now-

A dark miasma coated his arm. An instant later it was gone, as if it never existed. The fight continued as if it hadn’t. Terra pressed her with a jumping strike, which she ducked under and countered. They went up and down the hall, advancing and retreating as if it were rehearsed.

“That is enough.”

Aqua stood back at attention. It happened again. What could she do? She tried to control her breaths.

“We have deliberated and reached a decision. Terra, Aqua, you both performed commendably. However, only Aqua has shown the Mark of Mastery. Terra, you failed to keep the darkness within you sufficiently in check. But there is always next time. That is all. Aqua, as our newest Keyblade Master, you are entitled to certain knowledge. Please wait here for further instruction.”

Xehanort walked away as Ven ran over. Aqua watched him from the corner of her eye until she was sure he was gone.

Ven looked almost more devastated than Terra, if that was possible.

Aqua grabbed Terra’s hand and looked into his eyes.

“I can’t imagine how this feels, Terra. I’m sorry. I know you want to be left alone right now, but I need you for something. It’s important.”

“Please, Aqua, I-”

“I wouldn’t ask unless it was important.”

Terra deflated a little. “What do you need?”

“Master, I have a few questions about what it means to be a master.”

Eraqus looked tired. He didn’t even notice Terra behind her. “Of course, Master Aqua.”

“Can the master title be revoked? Am I equal to you now?”

“There is only one title among Keyblade Wielders, and that is Master. To be selected as such is no mean feat. To be a master is to stand equal to other masters. It is a permanent distinction. No one can take it from you, even in death.”

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

“You failed Terra because you thought he failed to control his darkness.”

Behind her, Terra took a short breath. “Aqua, don’t-”

“I disagree.”

Eraqus shook his head. “This isn’t that simple. If I could, I would give both of you the Mark in a heartbeat.”

“You think that I am making this claim because he is my friend. But Ven is my friend, and I know he is not a master. But Terra has trained hard for more than ten years. During the exam, he performed every move flawlessly. He deserves to be a master just as much as I do.”

“The darkness is dangerous! This is no trivial matter. If he loses control, his heart will be lost into darkness forever!” Master Eraqus sighed. “If he demonstrated control, he would pass.”

“He did demonstrate control!”

“Aqua.” Terra ran forward and grabbed her arm. “I know what you’re trying to do for me, and it means a lot, but I deserved to fail. I didn’t mean to call for the darkness.”

“I know. But you didn’t hurt anyone, and you put it away immediately. That’s control, Terra.”

“It might have hurt someone. I don’t deserve to be a master until the dark has no hold on me.”

Aqua huffed. “If being a master means the dark has no hold on someone, then I don’t deserve to be a master.”

“That’s not true. You didn’t-”

Master Eraqus cut Terra off. His voice was stiff with fear. “What do you mean, Aqua?”

Aqua smiled sadly at Master Eraqus. “I’m sorry, Master. The darkness got a hold of me.”

Aqua closed her eyes and summoned it: her fear, her guilt, her despair. For an instant, her darkness cloaked her with a dark miasma. Then she steadied her heart and let it go.

Eraqus looked at her in horror. “Aqua, my child, what-”

She turned to Terra. “No master is perfect. I learned that a long time ago. But you’re as close to a textbook master that any of the worlds will ever get. You are kind, loyal, and strong. You demonstrate mastery in every form and exercise. You demonstrate leadership and compassion. That is why I grant you the Mark of Mastery.”

Terra was too shocked to reply.

“Aqua, you’re making a mistake.”

“No, I’m fixing one. I followed my heart. That’s all there was to it.”

Master Eraqus looked like he was about to say something, but before he could, the alarm bell sounded. He narrowed his eyes. “This conversation is not over, Aqua.”

She just nodded. Master Eraqus left the room.

Aqua turned back to Terra. “Congratulations, Master Terra.” 

He didn’t even look at her. “It doesn’t feel right. This isn’t the way I wanted it to happen.”

“I know. But it was the way it had to happen.”

_I won’t let the darkness have you._

Terra started walking to the door. “Come on. We should see what’s going on.”

Never in her life did Aqua think she could be grateful to the Unversed. Like clockwork, they received their mission, and Ven chased after Terra.

“No! He mustn’t!” Master Eraqus turned to Aqua. “Bring him back here. He needs to be kept safe. Once he’s back, you and I can talk.”

“Yes, Master Eraqus. I promise you, I’ll keep them safe. Ven and Terra both.”

Without any further words, Aqua summoned her glider and flew into the void.


	2. Enchanted Dominion

Chapter 2: Enchanted Dominion

Aqua raced on her glider as fast as she could. There were a couple of close calls where she almost smashed into space debris, but she had to get to Enchanted Dominion. She didn’t know what happened in that world, but Maleficent claimed Terra stole Princess Aurora’s heart. Even in his darkest hour, Terra would never hurt an innocent person, let alone a Princess of Heart. Had Xehanort framed him? She had to know.

Time flowed differently between the worlds. By the time she reached Terra, it might already be too late. Instead of landing on the edge of the castle, Aqua kept going until she was at the bottom of Princess Aurora’s tower. She had briefly considered going in through the top window, but she was worried that she might accidentally hurt the princess.

Maleficent's voice echoed down the tower. “Impudence will get you nowhere, child. If you wish to learn more, you must retrieve the heart of Aurora.”

Terra was angry and confused. Aqua could tell by the tone of his voice. “And why would I ever want to do that?”

Aqua raced up the stairs two at a time. 

“In your heart, there is darkness just waiting to be awakened.”

Maleficent wasn’t strong enough to see the hearts of others. Was she guessing? Or did someone tell her?

“...I can awaken what’s inside you… Then you will be free to be who you truly are.”

Aqua’s legs couldn’t move fast enough. She burst through the door, Keyblade first, and gasped.

Terra’s eyes were glazed. He held up Earthshaker, and before Aqua could move, Aurora’s heart shot from her body and floated to Maleficent's hand. Aqua charged, but Maleficent blocked her Keyblade with the staff she held. Aqua seethed.

“What did you do to Terra?”

“You speak as if I pulled some invisible strings. No-”

“You did! Now return Aurora’s heart or we will strike you down!”

Behind Aqua, she could feel Terra stir. The instant Aqua’s focus shifted, Maleficent stepped backwards and disappeared into the darkness.

“You can try, child.”

Aqua swiped at the place where Maleficent was the moment before.

“Aqua..?”

“Terra!” She ran to him. “Are you okay?” 

He was clutching his head. “Why- What happened?”

“Maleficent took Aurora’s heart.”

Terra looked away. “No. I took her heart.”

Aqua grabbed his hand. “Terra, look at me.” It took a second for him to do so and, like usual, he didn’t meet her eyes. His expression was plagued with guilt. “This wasn’t your fault.”

“Aqua, I’m the one that stole her heart. It was my Keyblade that unlocked it and gave it to Maleficent.”

“You didn’t mean to do that. I know you didn’t. Maleficent used you.”

“Maleficent used me because I’m not strong enough. She said she used the darkness inside me to help her.”

“Strength has nothing to do with it.” Her grip on Terra’s hand tightened and she stared past him. “Sometimes… sometimes people don’t see you as a person. Sometimes people see you as nothing but a tool. But that doesn’t make it your fault. It doesn’t make you weak. It’s their fault for using you.”

Terra said nothing. Aqua let go of his hand.

“I know you don’t believe me, but things will get better once we get Aurora’s heart back.”

Terra blinked.

“Get her heart back…?”

Aqua walked over to Aurora’s sleeping body. She was so peaceful. Her breath didn’t even stir her bangs. 

Peaceful wasn’t right. It was its own kind of evil. It wasn’t death. Each breath taunted her, promising that wakefulness would come if she did better. 

“She reminds me of Ven.” Terra’s voice startled her. He had joined her in looking at Aurora. “He slept like this too, remember? Even after he woke up, he was such a sleepyhead.”

That term had been endearing, once. Now it was like a jeer.

Aqua forced herself to look away from Aurora’s empty body.

“Let’s go. I know the way to Maleficent’s fortress.”

They were quiet on the way up, only talking when necessary in battle. Aqua stood back and hit the Unversed from afar with magic and her shotlock. Terra cleared a path with each swing of Earthshaker.

Aqua knew she should be enjoying this. She was fighting alongside Terra, one of her best friends; she should be happy. But the darkness was weighing her down from inside. How could Terra have ever fostered this on purpose? She could use it, but her other magic was more dependable and didn’t cause her to be so tired.

“I escaped the Realm of Darkness. So why do I feel like I’m still there?”

Terra turned his head from ahead of her. There were no Unversed in this stretch. “Did you say something?”

Aqua had to do something about that habit. Now that she was no longer completely alone, talking to herself caused more harm than good.

“It-it’s nothing.”

To make things worse, the forest made everything darker. Thorn-covered branches lined the path in a spiked cage. Fog crept in like a suffocating blanket. The Unversed attacked in larger swarms, and Terra was getting visibly exhausted.

When Aqua healed him with a Curaga, he scowled.

“I’m fine, Aqua.”

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“You don’t-”

Terra’s words were cut off by a bright object zooming past their heads.

Aqua whipped her head around and watched it. It was a small, floating ball of light. The orb zipped past them without pause, heading towards the castle.

Terra’s grip on Earthshaker tightened. “Was that Aurora’s heart?”

“I think so, but only someone with a Keyblade could- Ven.”

Terra whipped around. “What do you mean? Why would Ven be here?” 

“Who else would do it?”

“Maybe it was Master Xehanort.”

Aqua had to bite back a bitter laugh. “There’s only one way to find out. Let’s go.”

They fought through the monsters (not Unversed, oddly enough) in the fortress. Then they heard a shout.

“Terra didn’t steal anyone’s heart! There’s no way Terra would hurt someone like that!” It was Ven’s voice.

Beside her, Terra grimaced. Aqua put his hand on his arm.

“He’s right. You didn’t do it. Now let’s go- Ven needs us.”

Maleficent kept talking. “You don’t believe me? That’s a shame, for he agreed so easily.”

“He did?”

Aqua leapt into the chamber Keyblade first. “You witch! You possess him, deny it, and then say he was eager to do it?”

Ven looked around. “Aqua? Terra!”

When Terra entered, Ven ran at him. Terra stumbled under the weight of the excited embrace.

Maleficent looked down at them with her cold, thin eyes. Aqua wanted nothing more than to strike her down, but she had to make sure of something first.

“Ven.” He looked up from Terra. “I need to tell you something. If something happens and we get separated, meet me in front of Aurora’s castle.”

“Wh- Aqua?” Ven asked, “What’s going on?”

“Xehanort was right. You are a most stubborn girl.”

Aqua smiled. “You have no idea.” She pointed Rainfell at Maleficent and aimed her Shotlock.

“Oh dear,” Maleficent said. “You’re feistier than he described. You need a place to cool your head, don’t you think?.”

Aqua looked down a moment too late. Darkness welled under her feet, melting the stone away. She fell down into the darkness. The last thing she heard was Terra and Ven’s shouting.

“Aqua!”

Aqua landed gracefully. She scanned her surroundings for any threats, but all she saw was stone and a young man chained to the wall. 

“Prince Phillip.”

The man looked up. “Who are you? How do you know my name?”

Aqua held up Rainfell and unlocked his chains. “My name is Aqua. I’m here to take you to Princess Aurora.”

She began walking ahead. He followed.

“W-wait a second. Why- how-”

“You’re her true love, right?”

“Well, yes, but-”

“You’re the only one who can wake her, right? So I’m taking you to where she sleeps.”

“But what about Maleficent?”

Aqua tightened her grip on Rainfell. “I’ll take care of Maleficent.” If Terra and Ven hadn’t finished her off, she would.

Phillip looked too overwhelmed to ask any more questions.

“There are monsters ahead,” Aqua said. “Prepare yourself.”

He drew his sword without any further comment. 

Since Phillip didn’t know her, Aqua was free to use her full power. She still didn’t want to use Stormfall, but she could use higher-tier magic. There was something relieving about allowing Blizzagas and Thundagas fly from Rainfell with ease. She finished off the last goons with a swipe of her Keyblade.

Phillip looked at her in awe. “Who are you?”

Aqua smiled at him. “I already told you, my name is Aqua. I’m a… knight who protects princesses.”

They walked through Maleficent’s fortress and through the forest until they arrived at the bridge leading to the castle. The storm clouds thickened, and a voice boomed down.

“A forest of thorns shall be your tomb, wound ‘round the castle in a bower of doom!”

Brambles emerged and wrapped around the bridge. In a flash of green light, Maleficent herself appeared.

“Maleficent! What did you do to Terra and Ven?”

Maleficent looked at her with cold eyes. “They ran away. Your friends deserted you, Aqua.”

Aqua huffed. There was an approximately zero percent chance of that being true. “Tell me the truth, not some twisted lie!”

They wouldn’t abandon her, and Ven had promised to meet her, so-

“Where did you put them?”

For an instant, Maleficent’s face widened with surprise. “I told you-”

“Never mind.” She would never tell the truth.

Maleficent was shouting something and glowing, and Phillip was holding up his shield into a guard. Time to kill a dragon.

She wasn’t waiting for Phillip this time. Aqua leapt and wove through the thorns that shot at her and directly onto the dragon. She dug Rainfell into Maleficent’s back. She cried out and began to thrash around. Dark, leathery wings began to rise and angle towards the rising wind. 

“Oh no you don’t!”

If there already was a storm, why not add lightning? Aqua raised Rainfell and called the building energy from the cloud into the Keyblade, joining it with her own Thundaga spell. Thunder erupted from the sky in a massive explosion. Maleficent roared in pain. 

Aqua steadied herself on one of the spikes on the dragon’s back. She had never performed a spell that powerful before. Her strongest Thundaga didn’t even come close. Was that grand magic? Aqua didn’t think she’d be able to conjure it in her wildest dreams.

Even with that spell, Maleficent still had some fight left in her. Aqua raised Rainfell for a final strike when she heard a yelp from below. Phillip was cornered between the thorns and the dragon’s grinning snout. Maleficent opened her mouth…

Aqua leapt from her back and next to Phillip. Just as green flames began to coat them, Aqua threw up a barrier. The world was alight in green flames so hot it caused Aqua’s breath to catch. Phillip grimaced, but readied his sword and shield. 

Eventually, the flames died down, but Maleficent was still baring her fangs.

“Sword of Truth, fly swift and sure, that evil die and good endure!”

Three women bundled in clothing of different colors shot beams of energy at Phillip.

_I completely forgot about the fairies._

Phillip’s sword began to glow different colors. He threw the sword at Maleficent’s chest, and she collapsed with a final roar.

Immediately, the storm began to clear and the giant brambles faded.

“Hurry, Phillip,” one of the fairies said.

He nodded, but looked back at Aqua.

“Thank you.”

Aqua smiled. “Don’t leave your princess waiting for too much longer.”

The prince and the fairies all sped off into the tower.

At the edge of the bridge, a small green flame was flickering weakly in the breeze. Aqua approached it and waited. Maleficent was spat out of the flame. She put her cane on the ground to pull herself up.

Aqua was too fast. She whipped Rainfell with a flick of her wrist. Maleficent’s cane broke in two. Aqua kicked away the remains and held Rainfell to the witch’s throat.

Maleficent stumbled back. Aqua followed her throat with her Keyblade.

“What are you doing?” Maleficent snarled.

Aqua’s voice was cold as ice. “I’m deciding if it would be safer to destroy you.”

“Y-you wouldn’t.”

Aqua dug Rainfell a little deeper. “I wouldn’t be so sure if I were you.”

Suddenly, Maleficent started laughing.

“What’s so funny, witch?”

She grinned. “You’re so worried about Terra’s darkness, but you should be worried more about your own.”

Aqua’s heart stopped. Had she been using the darkness? She looked at her arms. Neither of them seemed to be covered in darkness.

In the instant Aqua was distracted, Maleficent opened a portal beneath herself. She disappeared with a final cackle.

Aqua forced herself to relax. Maleficent would at least think twice before approaching any of her friends again.

But was her darkness really that abundant? Aqua closed her eyes. 

Master Eraqus had told her a thousand times that using darkness would cause someone to fall into it. But what did that mean, exactly? True, Aqua didn’t threaten Maleficent in the last timeline, but she hadn’t been using the darkness for any spells.

Was she rationalizing her own crimes? Maleficent hadn’t bothered them again in the last timeline, so there was no need to destroy her, not really. She was a cruel, manipulative witch, but did she deserve to die?

No. 

“I think I just wanted to practice. To make sure I could do it when I really have to.”

If Terra had done something like this, she would be furious, in this timeline or the last. She had to find Terra and Ven. They could watch in her in case she went too far, or accidentally used the darkness. Maybe her heart would even become lighter.

She wasn’t counting on it.

“Aqua!” a voice called from the sky. Ven crouched on his glider and dove at Aqua, turning and dismounting at the last minute.

Aqua let down the barrier she had put up. “Maybe get a little more practice before you try dive bombing someone.”

Ven retracted his armor and pouted. “Hey, it’s not my fault I never got to practice.”

Aqua bit her lip. “You’re right. You’ve done an amazing job for someone with no instruction. You even got to a world by yourself.”

Ven smiled. “Two, actually.”

“Two? You’ve been to two different worlds already?”

Ven’s smile faded. “Yeah. Why?”

“This is the first world I got to. The time warping between the worlds sure is something. Do you know what happened to Terra?”

Ven narrowed his eyes. “When Maleficent blasted us, he took the brunt of the attack. I think he landed in a completely different world.”

“She told me that you two ran away.”

“And you believed her?”

Aqua smiled. “Not for a second. That witch lies more than she breathes.”

Ven giggled. Aqua ruffled his hair.

She loved him so much. 

“Aqua, why did you call me here?”

Aqua’s smile faded.

“Ven, do you remember what I said the night before the exam?”

He pulled out his Wayfinder. “We have an unbreakable connection! Because you cast a spell on these. But we don’t need them for that to be true.”

Aqua couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, that’s true. But I meant after my… premonition.”

“Right.” Ven frowned. “You said that you loved us and would do anything to protect us, but why-”

“Ven.” Aqua put her hands on her shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes. “I’m going to say something and you might not like it at first, but will you promise to hear me out?”

Ven looked away. He stuck his hand in his pocket, probably to fidget with his Wayfinder.

“Yeah. I promise.”

Aqua took a deep breath. She hadn’t removed her hands from his shoulders. “The Master ordered me to take you home.”

Ven’s eyes widened. He tried to escape her grip.

“Hear me out, remember? I’m not going to follow that order.”

“But won’t you get in trouble?” The question burst from Ven. “Sorry, right, the promise.”

“He can’t get me in trouble anymore. I’m a master now.” Aqua smiled wryly. “Besides, he’s already mad at me for making Terra a master.”

Ven’s eyes went wide. “You made Terra a master?” For an instant, he looked at her like she hung the moon in the sky, but then he frowned. “Why? Cuz if it was because you felt bad-”

“Do you really think I would do that?”

Ven looked away. “I don’t know anymore. You’re so different lately.”

Aqua tried to ignore the ache in her heart at that.

Did Terra really deserve to be a master? Or was she just throwing her weight around in a desperate attempt to keep him straying too far? At the Keyblade Graveyard in the last timeline, she would have said that he didn’t. The Terra there had made too many mistakes and hadn’t yet atoned for them. But the Terra who took the exam was careful and disciplined. He had a steady heart. Even when he made a mistake, he hadn’t hurt anyone.

Aqua remembered her master’s words: _To be a master is to stand equal to other masters. It is a permanent distinction._

Was it really a good idea to give the Mark of Mastery who may one day become undeserving of it?

If that were true, Xehanort should never have received the title. But Terra wouldn’t strike down their master in this timeline. Aqua wouldn’t let him go that far.

“It was to show that I have faith in him. Besides, don’t you think he deserved it?”

“Of course! Oh, right, I’m supposed to stay quiet.” Ven made a motion of zipping his mouth shut. Aqua laughed.

She stroked his cheek and cupped it. Ven’s eyes went wide, but he didn’t push her away.

“I love you so much. You’re like a little brother to me. I would do anything to protect you.” And image of his lifeless body flashed before her eyes. “But I know that I can’t always be there to protect you. And I know that you don’t need to be protected as much, not anymore. Even between the two worlds you’ve visited, you’ve already grown so much stronger. Your heart is so strong, Ven.” Aqua’s breath caught in her throat. She wouldn’t let him sacrifice himself this time. “I know you have the capacity to do incredibly brave things. You’re not as advanced as Terra and I are, not yet, but until then, would you like to travel by my side? As a fellow Keyblade wielder, not as a charge.”

Ven’s eyes immediately filled with tears.

“Did I say something wr-”

He threw himself into her arms with a sob. Aqua hugged him back. Tears pricked the side of her eyes.

“All- all I ever wanted was to fight together with you guys, I-I was so frustrated with being protected all the time and I know- I know it was because you cared, but it was like you didn’t believe in me, and-.” 

“Oh, Ven,” she said, “I will always worry about you. But I’m glad you know why.”

Ven tightened his grip. “I love you too.”

When they had finished crying and wiping away each other’s tears, Aqua sat down. She was used to a lot of walking, but her muscles worked differently in the Realm of Light. Ven plopped down next to her with a grin.

“Where to next, travel partner?”

Aqua smiled at him.

“Well, if I remember correctly, Terra should be headed to the Dwarf Woodlands.”

Ven narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean, ‘remember?’ How do you know where he went?”

Aqua froze. “I-I-I can’t tell you right now. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but-”

“Is this about your premonition? What was that?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Aqua hated how weak her voice sounded. 

“Okay.” Ven pouted. “But why do we have to go there? That was the first world I went to, and the people there were jerks! There were these little people who kept saying that I was a thief!”

But the dwarves were so sweet! They had cared for Snow White so much. Aqua was glad she didn’t say that out loud.

“I’ll protect you from the evil little people,” she said instead, shoving Ven playfully.

“Aquaaa.”


	3. Dwarf Woodlands

Chapter 3: Dwarf Woodlands

The first thing they heard when they touched down was cheering. Snow White was embracing her prince and all seven of the dwarves were celebrating.

“That’s so sweet,” Aqua murmured. 

Ven shook her arm. “Aqua, that’s Snow White! She’s really nice! I want to introduce you.”

Aqua gazed away at the castle in the distance. “I need to check on something first. You can say hi, though, if you want.”

“Okay!” Ven ran off to the crowd of people, waving his hands in greeting.

If Aqua remembered correctly, there was still a mirror in the basement of the castle that was possessed by some darkness. Her walk over to the castle was uneventful- most of the Unversed had already been cleared out. Did Terra clear them out? Or were they just less abundant with less darkness present? 

Even the castle itself was almost completely free of Unversed, but Aqua wanted to make sure no one would get hurt if they wandered too far or ran into the dark mirror. Hopefully, it would be easier to deal with than its counterpart in the Realm of Darkness.

When she entered the lowest room, a mirror on the far wall lit up with the image of a talking mask. “Welcome, warrior chosen by the key. What are the answers you wish to see?”

“Huh?” The mirror didn’t ask her that last time. “Are you okay? Are you trapped in there?”

Last time, the mirror had sucked her in and thanked her after defeating the darkness within it. This time, Aqua didn’t sense any darkness.

“I thank you for your intention to save, but for this power my life I gave.”

“Oh.” Had she killed him last time? How powerful was this mirror? “How can I protect my friends from their fate?”

“Deep in the dark does a child lay. Saving him will save the day.”

The mirror faded back into a normal reflection.

On the way back to the clearing, Aqua reflected on the mirror’s words.

“A child in the dark?”

Aqua hadn’t run into anyone like that in the first timeline. The only children she encountered were Sora and Riku from the islands, and Kairi, the little princess of heart. Maybe it meant saving Kairi from the Unversed? But she did that last time, and the child he spoke of was a boy-

She was so deep in her thoughts she almost ran into Ven. He danced out of the way at the last second.

“Aqua! What took you so long? Everyone had to go home.”

“Sorry, Ven. I didn’t think it would take that long. Besides, this was important.”

_A child in the dark._

“Hey, Ven, why did you run away from home?”

Ven’s face immediately soured. “It was this stupid kid in a mask.”

Aqua bit back a scream. 

“A full-” she couldn’t reveal that she knew that Vanitas had a full face mask. Aqua did her best to keep her voice neutral. “What did he look like?”

“He was wearing these stupid clothes, like a jumpsuit and a skirt. I know Terra wears skirts sometimes, but his was super ratty and gross.”

So it was Vanitas. Not that it could have been anyone else.

“Okay, how did this boy make you leave?” Aqua’s voice was too hard; Ven looked like he was being scolded. “I just want to know. I’m not going to get you in trouble with the Master or anything.”

They shared a smile.

“He said that Terra would ‘become a different person.’”

Aqua froze. “That’s what he said?”

“I think it was more like- nah, it was pretty much,” here Ven deepened his voice in a mockery of Vanitas’s, “‘by the time you catch up to him, he’ll be a different person.’”

Aqua burst out laughing.

“He-he-he told you? All of that plotting- and scheming and secrecy and his demon just goes and-” Aqua was laughing too hard to continue.

Was this what it was like to be hysterical? 

Ven was scowling. “It’s not funny! And how come you’re talking all weird now? Do you know what he meant?” 

Aqua gradually stopped laughing. “You’re right, it’s not funny,”

“Then why were you laughing?”

“I don’t know, Ven.”

They stood in silence. The sun had almost set.

“I think we should rest here,” Aqua said. “We can keep looking for Terra in the morning.”

Ven pouted. “Aqua, quit trying to avoid it.”

“Avoid what?”

“Why you’ve been so weird lately! You keep referencing stuff you shouldn’t know. And you knew that kid in the mask!” Ven froze as if something dawned on him. “Are you even Aqua?”

The question hit Aqua like a strike to the stomach. Tears immediately formed. “Ven…”

“How do I know you’re not some bodysnatcher?”

“Bodysnatchers have yellow eyes and white hair.”

Ven threw his arms up. “See? How do you even know that?”

Aqua looked away, fighting back tears.

Why did she even have to? This was nothing. Ven had a completely logical idea of what could be happening.

“Oh- no, Aqua, I didn’t mean-”

“Have I really changed that much?” Aqua hated how her voice broke.

Ven embraced her. “No way. I’m sorry for saying that. There- there are some times you look really scary, and you fight different now, and you keep talking like we’re going to disappear, and-”

“Ven. It’s okay.”

He squeezed her tighter. “I just want to know! Terra and I- we’re your friends! Quit shutting us out! We want to help you, Aqua. We’re really worried.”

Aqua ruffled his hair. “And you want to know because you’re a curious little thing.”

“Aqua-”

“I’ll tell you. Not right now. But when I’m ready. There… there are things you can’t un-know, and I’m worried about how you’ll react, and-”

“We’ll be fine. I promise.”

Aqua wrapped her arms around him. “I’m the one who’s supposed to say that.”

Ven laughed. “We should sleep. It’s been a long day.”

They set out their sleeping gear and fell asleep looking at the stars.

  


Waking up with the morning sun was nice, Aqua realized. The forest was so beautiful in the morning sunlight. Birds chirped in the trees. Everything was so similar yet so different than the Land of Departure. 

She heard a groan to her left. Ven sat up, blinking the sleep from his eyes.

“Good morning, Ven.”

“‘Morning Aqua.” He sighed. “Why does the sunlight have to be so bright? I wanna keep sleeping.”

Aqua began packing up their sleeping supplies. She paused for a second. “Sorry for waking you up last night.”

She had fallen asleep looking at the stars, but her mind didn’t let her rest. She kept seeing Ven fade away alone in that white room over and over and over-

“It’s fine. I don’t even remember it.”

Aqua smiled. “I’m glad.”

She had to see him awake after that. She felt bad, but she had to know that he could wake up. After the nightmares, she couldn’t sleep, so she wandered the world, striking down Unversed until she was tired enough to go back to sleep.

Ven packed up the rest of his sleeping supplies and looked at Aqua like a puppy wanting to go outside. “Let’s go! I wanna find Terra.” He frowned. “That reminds me- the last time I came here, an old woman said Terra yelled at her and threatened her. And Snow White said the Unversed attacked her right after she met Terra.”

Aqua sighed. Was Terra still getting into trouble?

“Look, Ven, it’s not like Terra can control the-”

Could he control the Unversed? They were creatures of darkness. 

“Even if he could control the Unversed, he wouldn’t use them on an innocent person.” Unless Xehanort had somehow gotten a hold on him early- and this line of thought wasn’t helping. “As for the old woman…” Aqua sighed again. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, Ven, since you’ve only seen him interact with us and the Master, but Terra has a hard time with other people.”

“What are you talking about? Terra’s really nice!”

“Yes, he is, but…” how to explain this… “you know how if I were seething mad, but still said I was fine, you would still know that I’m angry?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, Terra has trouble with that sometimes, especially with strangers. He has a really hard time seeing other people’s emotions or their intentions. And he has trouble showing or controlling his emotions sometimes. If it were someone who didn’t know him, they could interpret his actions as a threat.” Aqua’s mind flashed back to the bridge at Enchanted Dominion. “And if he was really threatening her, it was because he thought one of us was in danger.”

Ven seemed to deflate a little. “Oh. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have doubted Terra.”

“Don’t be. I understand.” Aqua’s face darkened. “And it’s not like he can’t do bad things. But this wasn’t one of those times.” Aqua forced herself to smile. “Now, let’s go find him so we can ask, okay?”

“Yeah!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a pretty short chapter, so I'll be updating the next one on Wednesday. It's very fluffy and a lot longer.


	4. Castle of Dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fluff time  
> I decided to upload a day earlier than scheduled to make things more even. Thank you all for your kind comments! They mean the world to me.  
> Cw: mild mentions of homophobia, and heteronormativity (of the gals being pals variety)

Chapter 4: Castle of Dreams

The first thing Aqua noticed when they landed in the Castle of Dreams was that it was different from last time. There were iron bars around them, and-

“How did we get so small?” Ven shouted.

Aqua frowned. Last time, it was the fairy godmother who shrunk her, but they were starting out small this time. How were they supposed to find Terra like this? Hopefully, when the time came, they would grow back to their normal size.

“I don’t know,” Aqua said, “Maybe it’s because of the World Order. Whatever the reason, it probably isn’t good to stay in a cage.” 

She lifted Rainfell to open it, but before she could, the cage moved up. By the time Aqua had dismissed Rainfell, their cage was eye-level with a giant woman.

“Don’t be afraid,” she said, opening the lid. “Oh! How interesting… I’ve never seen mice like you two before.”

It was Cinderella. She was dressed in her work clothes, but her beauty was still apparent. The simple clothes almost made her prettier, as if reflecting her pure heart.

“Mice?” Ven asked.

“What are your names?”

“I’m Ven, and this is Aqua.”

“What lovely names,” Cinderella said, “Jaq, you better explain things to them.”

A mouse in a red shirt began chittering to them. Terra had been the one to escort Cinderella to the ball, so if she stuck with Cinderella, she could find Terra faster.

“Uh, Miss Cinderella…?” Aqua asked.

“Oh! Just call me Cinderella.”

“Right, uh, Cinderella, could I stay with you?”

“Cinderella!” A menacing voice called from the other side of the house. Cinderella flinched.

“Oh, well, I have to get to my chores.”

“I could keep you company!” Aqua looked away. Her face was red. “I mean, if it’s too much trouble-”

“Oh, no,” Cinderella said, holding out her hand. “Some company would be lovely. I’ll be sure to get to know you better later, Ven.”

Aqua jumped onto it gratefully. Ven looked bewildered, but before he could comment on it, Aqua was tucked into a shirt pocket. If she stood up, she could see out, but if she sat down, she was out of sight.

Cinderella trotted down the stairs.

“Cinderella,” Lady Tremaine said. Her voice sounded like a smack in the face. Aqua could feel Cinderella flinch through her shirt. “Why hasn’t the floor been scrubbed yet?”

“I’m very sorry,” Cinderella said. Her voice was placating, like she was talking to someone with a dangerous temper. “I’ll do that right away.”

Aqua risked a glance up to look at Tremaine.

She had Xehanort’s eyes in a different color.

“See that you do.”

Something inside Aqua twisted. She knew that Cinderella’s stepmother was harsh and cruel (the Unversed didn’t prey on them because they were kind), but she hadn’t realized it was abuse. She cursed herself for not noticing last time.

Cinderella put Aqua on a ledge as she began scrubbing the floors. She was quick and efficient while still getting every spot.

“This is very nice, I must admit,” Cinderella said. “The mice are oh-so-very kind, but they’re all boys. It’s nice to talk to another girl for once.”

Aqua smiled. “I know how you feel. I have these two friends- Ven and Terra-”

“Ven’s the one with you, right?”

“Y-yeah. It’s short for Ventus.” Why was she saying that? It wasn’t relevant at all. Aqua’s face turned red again. “A-anyway, we’re together all the time, but they’re both boys. Sometimes-” Aqua frowned, “sometimes I think I’m missing some connection to them because I’m a girl. And sometimes it’s lonely, being the only girl in a surrounded by boys.”

“Well,” Cinderella said, “maybe it’s just different, not lesser. Is your relationship with Ven any different with your relationship with Terra?”

“Yes. Very much so.”

“But do you love one more than the other?”

“Of course not!”

Cinderella smiled, and Aqua was grateful she was already sitting down, or else her knees would get too weak for her to stand.

“I’m sure it’s the same with Ven and Terra. Their relationship is different, but it’s not as if they love each other more than you.”

Aqua blinked. “Thank you, Cinderella.”

She smiled again. Aqua’s heart sped up. 

“Why, of course. I don’t see how it’s anything to thank me over. You just had to see things from another perspective, that’s all.”

“W-well, your perspective was very helpful.”

If Cinderella smiled one more time Aqua thought she would combust. “I’m glad to be of help.” Her expression darkened. Aqua would take combustion if it meant she would smile again. “I wish I could talk with my step-sisters, sometimes, the way they speak to each other. I didn’t have any sisters before my mother died, and when my father remarried…”

After her father remarried, Cinderella was forced to scrub floors for the person who was supposed to care for her. Yet her heart remained so full of light. Aqua’s heart had been like that, once, but it felt so long ago.

Cinderella clapped her hands together, snapping Aqua from her thoughts. 

“I’ve finished. And I’ve cleaned the table as well, just in case they ask.” She smiled at Aqua. “Now I can show you my dress.” She held out her hand, and Aqua jumped into it.

“I could see your dress from the ledge. It suits you.”

Cinderella giggled. Aqua could drown in the sound and die happy.

“I mean my dress for the ball tonight! I’ve been preparing for this for a long time. I’m going to finish my chores, and then I will have one night all for myself. It’s been my dream for a very long time.” She opened the door into the attic and walked over to the windowsill. Ven was talking with one of the mice. “Hello, you two. Have you become friends already?”

“Of course!” Ven said. Aqua smiled. Ven noticed her from Cinderella’s pocket. “How about you two?” 

Aqua couldn’t see Cinderella, but she bet she was smiling too. “Aqua is very lovely. Here, look at my dress for the ball!”

It was half-finished, but it was a pretty thing. She hadn’t seen Cinderella at the ball last time, so she never saw her in anything but her plainclothes.

Not that they made her look plain.

Cinderella was sticking the dress with marking pins when more voices called her name. 

“Cinderella!”

“Cinderella!”

She turned to the door with a slight sigh. “My dress will have to wait. Would you like to come with me, Aqua?”

“Of course.”

It turns out the calls were from her stepsisters. Aqua didn’t really get to talk because they kept demanding that she help them with their hair and their dresses and their makeup. Through it all, Cinderella’s voice remained at a respectful monotone.

“How could they do this to you?” Aqua whispered. Cinderella didn’t hear her. It wasn’t a question that was meant to be heard.

Once the stepsisters were finally ready and leaving the bathroom, Cinderella trudged upstairs. It was too different than the cheerful stride she had upstairs, talking to her friends.

“What’s wrong?”

Cinderella sighed. “It’s too late. I’ll never finish my dress for the ball. I guess some dreams don’t come true.”

Sometimes you couldn’t even watch the stars with your two best friends. But she had, hadn’t she? It was the same stars, but she did get to see them with Terra and Ven again.

“Try not to lose heart,” Aqua said. “Sometimes, if you just hold on, a second chance will come where you least expect it. Your dream might not come true in the same way you imagined it, but I’m sure, one day, it will come true.”

Cinderella’s expression brightened. “Thank you, Aqua. You’re a good friend.”

Aqua was very glad Cinderella couldn’t see how red her face was.

When they arrived at the attic, Cinderella collapsed by the window.

“Cinderella!” It was Ven. A couple of the mice unfolded a screen that had been in the room, revealing a beautiful pink dress. It was covered in bows and pearls. Cinderella covered her mouth in surprise. 

“Is this my dress?”

“Yup!” Ven’s tiny face was beaming. “It’s a present from all of us. Now you have a dress for the ball.”

“Thank you.” Cinderella began changing into it. Aqua made sure both she and Ven were facing the other way. When they turned around, Aqua gasped.

“Cinderella, you look beautiful!”

The pink dress was very simple, but it seemed to reflect her sweetness. She was… cute. Not in the way Ven was cute, but the kind of cute that had Aqua blushing just from looking at her.

The mice were murmuring. “It’s time to go, Cinderella. You don’t want to miss the ball.”

Cinderella turned to the rest of the room. “Thank you, everyone! Thank you for helping my dream come true!”

“Bye, Cinderella!” Aqua called. “Have fun at the ball!”

Cinderella gave her one last smile and left. Aqua gave a happy sigh.

“You like her!”

Ven’s shout made Aqua jump. She wished her face would stop turning red. She cleared her throat to respond.

“Yes, of course. She’s a very good friend, and-”

“No, you like-like her!”

Aqua turned away. “So what if I do?”

Ven grinned. “This is amazing! Wait until I tell Terra!”

Ugh, but speaking of Terra…

“I want to see her out,” Aqua said. She really did, but she also knew that Terra would be meeting her, and it was her only chance to encounter him when they were this small.

Ven’s grin widened. “Why didn’t you just say so before? Follow me!”

Within Ven’s short time in the house, he had already found every shortcut and passage from the top of the house to the bottom. It was so… Ven. By the time they managed to slip under the door, Ven was so excited he was pulling her arm.

But then they saw Cinderella.

She had collapsed onto the ground and was weeping quietly. Shreds of fabric were strewn around her like they had been ripped off violently. Her beads were scattered at her feet like swatted flies.

Aqua’s stomach twisted. Ven reeled in horror. He looked at Aqua.

“What happened?”

Aqua’s voice was barely a whisper. “It was her stepfamily. They knew that if they let her dream come true, she would never be their slave again. So they stopped her.”

“Is something wrong?”

Ven immediately whipped his head up. It was Terra’s voice. He was large when Aqua was human-sized, but at the size of a mouse, he looked like a colossus. Ven tugged on her arm, and they began to move towards him.

Cinderella sniffed. “It’s just that my friends made me the most beautiful dress, but my stepmother and stepsisters ruined it. And I was so looking forward to the ball.”

The courtyard was so big that it seemed like they had run a race just to get to a normal pace-length.

“Darkness always finds a way into a wounded heart,” Terra said. “You have to be strong. Strength of heart will carry you through the hardest of trials.”

Aqua huffed. She knew Terra was trying to help, but that was almost the worst possible thing to say. Cinderella burst into tears again. Terra looked shaken.

Glimmering particles of light began to dance around the courtyard.

“Strength of heart is important, yes, but that’s not all you need.” The voice came from everywhere and nowhere.

“There’s nothing left to believe in,” Cinderella cried. “Nothing.”

Her words twisted Aqua’s heart. Had those monsters broken the light of a Princess of Heart?

“Nothing, my dear? Oh, now, you don’t really mean that.”

The glowing lights coalesced into the form of an old woman- Aqua remembered her as Cinderella’s fairy godmother.

“Oh, but I do. It’s just no use.”

“Nonsense, child! If you’d lost all your faith, I couldn’t be here-and here I am!” The Fairy Godmother took Cinderella’s hand and helped her to her feet. “Oh, come now, dry those tears. You can’t go to the ball looking like that.”

“The ball?” Cinderella looked at the tatters of her dress in shame. “Oh, but I’m not-” 

They were almost at Terra’s feet.

“Of course you are. But we have to hurry, because even miracles take a little time. Now, what were those magic words? Oh yes! Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!”

Aqua and Ven finally made it to Terra’s giant feet.

“Terra,” she whispered.

Ven scowled. “Our lungs are too small for that. TERRA!”

Terra looked down. He didn’t even spot them until they began waving their hands. He crouched down and let them crawl on his hand.

“Aqua? Ven? What are you doing here? And why are you so small?”

“It’s because of the World Order, I think,” Aqua said.

“Why am I not small, then?”

“I don’t know.”

“Terra!” Ven looked like an excited puppy. “Aqua has a crush on Cinderella!”

She elbowed him. “Ven! She’s right there! She could hear you! Besides, now is not the time!”

Luckily for her, Cinderella was busy gaping at the Fairy Godmother’s magic, so she didn’t hear Ven.

“Oh my!”

Aqua turned at the sound of Cinderella’s voice. Her dress began to glow until the light overtook Cinderella. When it faded, Aqua gasped. Cinderella looked like a completely new person. Her hair was up, she was covered in jewels, and she had a radiant ballgown. It was like the light in her heart had manifested into the dress. Cinderella spun around.

“It’s a beautiful dress. Why… it’s like a dream come true!’

Aqua smiled. It was as if the attack never even happened. Cinderella was as happy and beautiful as ever.

Terra chuckled. “You really do have a crush on her.”

“Terra! Not you too!”

The Fairy Godmother helped Cinderella into a carriage. “Like all dreams, this can’t last forever. You’ll only have till midnight, and then, on the stroke of twelve, the spell will be broken, and everything will be as it was before.”

“Yes, I understand.” 

“Terra,” Aqua said. “The Unversed will be after her. Her heart’s too bright. We have to protect her.”

Terra smiled. “I’m sure you’ll be a great help as you hang onto my shoulders.”

“Hey!” Ven shouted. “We might be able to hit them from up high.”

“Your Keyblades are the size of toothpicks.”

Ven pouted. “It’s not our fault.”

The Fairy Godmother walked over to them. “Are you Cinderella’s friends?”

“Yes.”

“Yeah!”

“I’m afraid the road will be too treacherous to handle alone. Will you help her dream come true?”

Aqua smiled. “It would be an honor.”

Ven was still pouting. “I want to, but we’re so small!”

The woman smiled and raised her wand. “Bippity boppity boo!”

Light surrounded them, and by the time it had faded, everything had changed. Aqua and Ven were back to a normal human size, and they were all wearing formal jackets and pants. They were the same blue-white as Cinderella’s dress and covered in a gold decorative trim.

“Wow!”

“Thank you very much,” Aqua said. “Will we shrink at midnight, too?”

“No, but your clothes will change back. Please take care of Cinderella.”

The three smiled and ran to Cinderella’s carriage. 

“Cinderella!” Aqua called. “Wait for us!”

She poked her head out of the carriage. “Aqua? Ven? Why are you so big now?”

“We’ve come to help you!” Ven said, running up to the window. “There are monsters around here, so we’ll protect you.”

“Monsters? Oh my.”

“Don’t worry,” Terra said, “we’ll make sure your dream comes true.”

Now that Aqua was on her feet, Cinderella’s smile really did make her knees go weak. “Oh, thank you.”

“C’mon!” Ven shouted from ahead. “Let’s go!”

“Start clearing the way!” Aqua called back. “We’ll be right there.” 

“Aqua.” Terra put his hand on her shoulder and smiled. “Ven and I will clear the way. You can guard her in her carriage.”

Aqua’s face turned red. “Are you sure? I mean-”

“You can act as our last line of defense.”

She smiled. “Right. Thanks, Terra.”

He ran off to the front of the carriage. Aqua knocked on the door.

Cinderella poked her head out of the window. “Yes?”

“U-um Cinderella? Would you mind if I rode with you? Just in case the monsters-”

There it was again, the smile that made Aqua feel like she was going to catch on fire. “Oh, of course. That would be quite lovely, thank you.”

She opened the door and Aqua stepped in. Soon after, the coach began moving.

Aqua tried not to stare, but it was practically impossible. Cinderella’s dress was catching all of the light and reflecting it so it almost glowed. Did the fairy godmother use the light in her heart to make the dress? She couldn’t think of anything else in this world that would do.

“You’re beautiful.” Aqua bit her lip. She was acting just like Ven, blurting out the first thing that came into her head. 

“Thank you. You also look quite charming.”

Aqua’s face was so red she almost wished that the Unversed would attack so she would have an excuse to leave.

Almost.

“Cinderella, how are you feeling?”

She smiled. Aqua flushed.

It was getting old.

(Except it really wasn’t.)

“I feel wonderful. I haven’t felt so happy my entire life.”

It would be cruel to bring up what happened to her old dress. Aqua didn’t want to destroy the bubble of serenity Cinderella projected- maybe just because she was selfish and liked how it felt.

“Are you alright, Aqua? You have such a troubled look on your face.”

“You’re so happy, I don’t want to bring it up and spoil it.”

“Oh no, don’t be ridiculous. You’re my friend. I would like nothing more than to hear it.”

Her heart wanted to protect Cinderella, but it was unable to deny her anything.

“I can’t stop thinking about what happened to your last dress. If I had-”

“Don’t worry about that. It was heartbreaking, certainly. But in the end, my dream is still coming true. I suppose that’s what really matters to me.”

Is that what it was like to have a heart of light? To not focus on the past, not to hold grudges? To let go? Aqua couldn’t remember. She remembered faith and love, things she still carried in her heart, but was the rest of her light just a placeholder for inevitable darkness?

“You’re so strong, Cinderella.” In a moment of bravery, Aqua leaned forward and put her hand on Cinderella’s.

Cinderella enclasped her hand in both of her own. Aqua felt like her face couldn’t get any redder.

“Thank you.” Cinderella glanced outside.

“Was that your friend Terra? The one who comforted me? He looks quite handsome.”

“Uh... I guess he’s alright...”

If one were into tall, dark, and muscular.

Or men.

“Do you know why the castle is holding this ball tonight?” 

“No. Do you know?”

There was a glimmer in Cinderella’s eyes. “They say the prince is looking for someone to marry.”

“Are you going to try your luck?”

“I don’t know. I just want to dance the night away as myself. Or as someone else, maybe. I just want to have fun and be happy.” She laughed. “It would be nice to meet someone, I suppose. Is Terra your… prince?”

“What? Oh, nonono. He’s more like my brother.” And because she was so composed, she blurted, “I prefer princesses.”

Cinderella chuckled. “I understand. Just having friends around is lovely on its own. I’m having a wonderful time with you right now.”

Aqua smiled. “Me too.”

The carriage shuddered to a stop. Terra knocked on the door.

“We have arrived.”

Cinderella was beaming, and Aqua couldn’t help but join her. Her excitement was infectious. Even Terra was smiling, and Ven was almost vibrating with energy.

“Oh my goodness.” 

Aqua stepped out first and helped Cinderella out of the carriage. Workers and party goers alike stopped conversations and activities to stare at the radiant woman escorted by strangers with foreign looks. Cinderella took the arm that Aqua offered her, and together, they all ascended the stairs. 

Lights shone from every pillar and alcove, all dwarfed by a massive crystal chandelier scattering small bursts of light in every possible direction. Cinderella took it all in with wide, sparkling eyes. Aqua didn’t notice too much- she was too busy staring at Cinderella.

At last, they reached the dance hall. Men and women were stepping in time to intricate dances learned through lessons and practice. When Cinderella entered, people stopped and stared, just as they did at the entrance. Even the prince stopped moving in his dance to stare at her.

Aqua became aware of the presence of Terra and Ven at their heels, providing some sort of unspoken support for threats she did not notice. She spared them a moment of gratitude in her mind before turning back to Cinderella. Aqua used her free hand to gesture to the dancefloor.

“You made it, Cinderella, and everyone wants to dance with you.”

She looked bashful.

“Well, I don’t really know anybody. Not really. Would you have the first dance with me?”

Aqua’s breath caught in her throat. A thousand words danced on the tip of her tongue.

_Of course._

_I would love to._

_I can’t._

_I can’t not._

_I’m a girl and you’re a girl and if we dance together- what if your prince doesn’t dance with you because of it?_

_What if I come in the way of your happy-ever-after?_

_How can you be this kind and beautiful?_

_Can’t you see everyone staring?_

_What if-_

Ven pushed her forward. “She would love to,” he said.

Cinderella’s eyes lit up, and Aqua couldn’t say no.

“I would love nothing more.”

Cinderella pulled them onto the dancefloor as the band began a slow waltz. Aqua looked around for guidance while Cinderella put her hand on Aqua’s waist and gently took her other hand. Aqua put her other hand on Cinderella’s shoulder, and then they began to move.

Neither of them knew any fancy moves, but they slowly moved through the room, spinning all the while. The world faded away to just her and Cinderella. Aqua couldn’t stop smiling.

“You’re beautiful,” she whispered. “All of you: your eyes, your hair, your dress, but most of all, your heart. You’re kind and strong, and this world is incredibly lucky to have you in it.”

Cinderella smiled. “You have a beautiful heart too, Aqua.”

Aqua returned a mournful smile. “My heart is no longer what it was. Darkness has appeared where there used to be light. I’m nothing but a shadow in your presence.”

“Nonsense,” Cinderella said. “I don’t know much about darkness or light, but you are strong, Aqua. Love is the only thing that really matters in the end, and I know how much you love your friends. I don’t know where you came from or what will happen, but I know that your love for them will shine through, and everything will be okay.” 

She looked over to their right. Aqua followed her gaze to Terra and Ven on the dancefloor. They were goofing around in a wacky dance of their own despite the slow music. Ven would step on Terra’s foot, Terra would grin and retaliate by spinning Ven too hard, and Ven would continue the cycle. They drew the glares of older and proper folk- away from her, Aqua realized. The only ones looking at them were looking at Cinderella’s beauty. No one noticed the woman she was dancing with, or that she even was dancing with a woman.

“You are strong, and brave, and kind,” Cinderella said. “Please have more faith in yourself. Your dream, whatever it is, will come true.”

In that moment, Aqua was filled with so much affection and joy she felt like she could burst. It wasn’t as strong as the relief and love she felt when she jumped to this timeline, but it was sweeter, lighter.

She didn’t love Cinderella, not really. Love was something that came with time and effort. But looking into her eyes, Aqua felt that out of any girl in the worlds to develop an infatuation with, she was so glad it was Cinderella. 

The song ended. Aqua took Cinderella’s hand and kissed the top of it.

From the corner of her eye, Aqua saw a man approaching them: the prince of this world.

“Excuse me, miss,” Prince Charming said to Cinderella. “May I have the next dance? And the one afterward, if you wouldn’t mind.”

Aqua could see the moment Cinderella saw him. She blushed, and her eyes widened, and the breath caught in her throat. But she still turned to Aqua, as if to ask if it was okay.

Aqua smiled at her before looking into the prince’s eyes.

_“I am trusting you with the most radiant woman I have ever met. She is kind and strong and beautiful in a way that no one in this world could ever hope to be. She has survived nearly a lifetime of hell and come through it smiling. Neither of us come even close to her light, but I am trusting you to protect it when she is unable to do it herself, if that day should ever come.”_

Did the prince hear the words she did not say? Aqua did not know. But he looked into her eyes longer than strictly necessary, and when she said “Take care of her,” his voice was solemn when he replied with “I will.”

Aqua stepped away and off the dancefloor. A man in an official uniform signaled the band, and they immediately began a grand waltz. Cinderella and the prince danced a little differently: he held her waist and she held her skirt instead of his hand, but Cinderella looked just as enraptured as she had when she was dancing with Aqua. Perhaps even more so.

Terra and Ven greeted her at the edge of the dancefloor. Aqua smiled.

“Were you two kicked off?”

Ven smiled mischievously. “Not technically.”

Aqua raised her eyebrows.

“Sort of.”

She laughed. “Come on, let’s look around some more. We wouldn’t want any Unversed to ruin the party.”

“Aqua.” Terra sounded serious. “Why did you let her go? I’ve never seen you look like that. Are you giving up on her? Are you giving up on your dream?”

Ven frowned. “Yeah, what gives, Aqua? We were prepared to cause trouble all night long to keep their eyes off you. Those chandeliers are just begging to be climbed.”

Aqua smiled and ran her hand through his hair. “She isn’t my dream, you guys are. Besides, this is how it’s meant to be. The prince will marry her, and she will live the rest of her life in a beautiful castle with a man who loves her and a kingdom who adores her. The pain and fear from the beginning of her life will fade from her heart, and she will know nothing but joy. She deserves it all and more. Besides, even if she returned my feelings, it would be cruel to leave her here, waiting for the return of a woman from the stars.”

Terra rubbed her back. Ven grabbed her hand.

“I’m sorry,” Terra said.

“Don’t be. It’s better this way. Besides, we might have some Unversed to take care of.”

Ven smiled. “Yeah!”

  


It turns out there were some small Unversed on a balcony. It seemed like everyone had gathered in the ballroom to look at the woman the prince would not stop dancing with. No one was looking at the foreigners carrying giant keys from one room to the next.

Aqua was relieved to have Rainfell in her hand as she struck down dark monsters. This was a dance she was much more familiar with, even if her only partner in Spellweaver was Rainfell. Fighting through the night made everything feel more real.

“Ven, on your left!” she called. 

An Unversed got in a lucky shot on Terra, so Aqua healed him with a Curaga.

“You didn’t have to do that,” he said.

“I know. But you two fought your way here while I got to ride in a carriage. It’s only fair.”

Ven didn’t really need healing, but Aqua indulged in a Curaga anyway. He grinned at her before diving into a fight with a large Unversed. Aqua stepped back and helped with crowd control. She was almost too good at it after all of the time spent fighting Heartless, but Terra and Ven were too busy fighting to notice that her Shotlocks destroyed even the larger Unversed in one hit.

Ven and Terra were fighting together in a way she hadn’t seen before. Ven would suck in an opponent with an Aerora and used it to throw himself up in the air to swipe at it, and when the Unversed started to attack him, Ven would dodge while Terra finished it off with a series of powerful blows. If the Unversed was still alive after a combo from Terra, Ven would hit it with Wayward Wind again, and that usually destroyed it. Once, Ven mistimed a dodge and got clipped with a hit from an Unversed, and Terra snarled. For an instant, Earthshaker was coated with darkness.

Aqua’s heart stuttered, but there were still Unversed to fight, so she shoved her fear aside. 

An hour or so later, most of the rooms were completely clear of Unversed. Aqua could still hear the band playing ballad after waltz after love song, but listening closer, she heard something else. 

“Do you guys hear that?” In a room upstairs, there seemed to be other band members playing a more intense and upbeat song.

Ven tilted his head. “Yeah! Is there a second dance upstairs? Maybe the people there will be more fun.”

“Like a dance version of the kid’s table,” Terra said.

“What’re you saying, Terra?”

Terra smiled. “Nothing.”

“Suuuuuure.”

“Anyway,” Aqua said, “Let’s check it out. If there are guests up there, we need to make sure they aren’t being targeted by any Unversed.”

Together, they followed the sound. Ven started humming along to the song, kicking his feet in time to the beat.

Aqua kept scanning the halls for people, but she didn’t see or hear any. That was weird- usually there were some people outside of a party hub like a dance hall. 

They eventually stumbled across a door where the music was at its loudest. It was odd that the doors were closed, but maybe they didn’t want the upbeat music to interfere with the rest of the ball downstairs.

Aqua put her hand on the door handle and pushed it. The music was in the room, but it wasn’t the only thing.

A giant Unversed was dancing in the middle of the room. It was three times taller than Terra, not even counting the green conductor’s hat it wore. It had puffy pants and was wearing a green suit to match the hat. Three giant instruments circled it, and Aqua realized that they were the source of the music that they had heard.

The Unversed didn’t seem to notice them. It was too busy conducting the instruments with the baton it held in one hand and dancing to its own beat.

“Aw, man,” Ventus said when he saw the Unversed. “I finally hear fun music, and it’s from a monster!”

“It seems different from the other Unversed,” Aqua said. “It’s not really attacking anybody. It’s just playing music and dancing.”

“It’s still a creature of darkness,” Terra said. “Just because it’s not attacking someone now doesn’t mean that it won’t. We have to protect the people downstairs.” 

Earthshaker appeared in his hand.

“Let’s make a deal,” Aqua said. “I’ll go in. If it attacks me, we can destroy it.”

“Are you going to let it go if it doesn’t attack you?” Terra asked.

“I don’t know,” Aqua said. “I’ve never seen an Unversed act like this.”

Aqua entered the room. It wasn’t very clear what purpose it served before, but the Unversed’s antics had knocked the furniture around, clearing the space. When she summoned Rainfell, the Unversed did not react.

Ven was right: the music was really catchy. The Unversed was lifting its heels to the beat, and Aqua joined him in his dance. After a few seconds, it was clear that it wasn’t going to attack her. Aqua increased the intensity of her dance, moving and spinning.

Her heart was so light. This was the best evening Aqua could remember in a while, and her friends were right there with her, a part of it. She had strengthened her bond with Ven and proved her faith to Terra- how could she not dance with joy?  
Ven ran through the door and grabbed her hand. Together, they spun around to the music. The one-Unversed band played on.

Ven let go of Aqua’s hand and summoned Wayward Wind. He threw it up so high Aqua was afraid it would hit the ceiling. Without pausing, he backflipped on his hands and started spinning on them like a top. Right as Aqua was worried Ven’s Keyblade would hit him on the head, he pushed off his hands and caught it.

Aqua whooped and cheered. “That was amazing, Ven!”

“Betcha can’t beat that, Aqua!”

“Just watch!”

Aqua summoned Rainfell and began twirling it like a baton, passing it between her hands, behind her back, and under her leg. Like Ven, she threw Rainfell up high before kicking her foot up, touching the ground, and pivoting on her planted foot. Rainfell landed perfectly in her hand, and she twirled it a few times before finishing in a battle-ready stance.

“I dunno Aqua,” Terra said from the door, “I think Ven has you beat.” 

Aqua laughed. “Yeah, that was really hard to follow.”

“C’mon Terra,” Ven called. “Why don’t you join us?”

“I don’t really feel like dancing.”

“Pleeeeeeeeease?”

Terra didn’t budge.

“Is the music too loud for you?” Aqua asked. Terra didn’t like loud noises, and the music was loud enough to fill the room.

“No, I just don’t want to dance.”

“Is it cuz you’re chicken?” Ven called.

A smile fought its way onto Terra’s face. He ran towards Ven.

“Be careful who you call chicken!”

Ven began running, but it was too late. Terra grabbed him and spun him before throwing him into the air and catching him.

Aqua couldn’t stop smiling. “I think Terra won that one.”

Ven struggled out of Terra’s grip with a pout. “That’s not fair! How was I know he was going to use me as a prop?”

Terra laughed and ruffled Ven’s hair.

“And now you’re messing up my hair… Aqua, tell Terra to stop bullying me.”

“Terra, stop bullying Ven by yourself. You’re hogging all the fun!”

Ven’s eyes were the size of saucers. “By yourself?”

Aqua lunged for him, but he took off running before she could get a good hold of him. She and Terra ran after him, but Aqua was laughing too hard to get a good pace.

Once they had tired themselves out, they all collapsed in the middle of the room. Now all of them had smiles that wouldn’t disappear.

“We should go to more dances,” Ven said.

“Are you kidding? They’d kick all of us out in a minute,” Aqua said.

“Only if they were lame! I’m sure there’s a world somewhere that knows how to actually have a good time.”

Terra nudged Ven’s shoulder. “I don’t think a single world exists that could put up with your mischief.”

“Hey!”

Aqua noticed the music stopped. The Unversed had stopped when they had, and was now looking at them.

Aqua stood up and bowed. “Thank you very much for your music.”

The Unversed bowed back and disappeared into shards of light.

“Woah!” Ven shouted.

“I didn’t know they could do that,” Terra said.

“I didn’t either,” said Aqua. “Maybe since they’re made of negative emotions, positive emotions sort of… neutralize them.”

Her thoughts were cut off by the chime of a clock.

“The spell wears off at midnight.”

Cinderella.

Aqua raced from the room as fast as she could, jumping down stairs and pushing past guests in the way. 

She made it to the main hall just as Cinderella was saying, “My goodness! It’s midnight!”

Aqua didn’t pause. She grabbed Cinderella’s hand and fled.

“Good-bye,” Cinderella called over her shoulder.

They were halfway down the stairs when Cinderella stumbled.

“Are you okay?” They were still running, but Cinderella was limping slightly.

“I believe I lost one of my glass slippers.”

“Hold on to the other one. It’ll be easier to run barefoot.”

With Cinderella in one hand and Rainfell in the other, Aqua raced back to Tremaine’s house. 

If there still were Unversed in the woods, they were repelled by the brightness of Aqua and Cinderella’s hearts.

  


By the time they reached Tremaine’s house, their clothes had faded back to normal. Cinderella was almost more beautiful this way. Her ball gown was radiant, but in her simple ponytail and smock dress, the beauty of her heart shone through, and that was what Aqua really adored.

Cinderella was gazing at the castle. “I suppose all dreams must end. But this was even greater than I could have ever imagined!”

Aqua smiled. “Tonight will live on in your heart. Even if there will never be another night quite like this one, you’ll find a new dream, and you’ll follow it with all of your heart. Your step mother won’t be able to enslave you anymore, not in the way that matters, because you are strong and you know it.”

Cinderella took Aqua’s hands in her own. Aqua would miss how easily she could make her blush.

“I have never met anyone more willing to help me than you and your friends. Oh, Aqua, thank you for helping my dream come true.”

“Thank you, Cinderella, for the best night I’ve had in a long time.” Aqua looked into Cinderella’s eyes. “Thank you for helping me believe in myself.”

“This is good-bye, isn’t it?”

Aqua’s smile didn’t fade. “Don’t be sad. You’re going to have a wonderful life. I know you’ll have your happy ending.”

“Will I ever see you again?”

Aqua looked away. “I don’t think so. I can’t stay here, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to come back.”

Cinderella smiled. “Please promise that you’ll at least try.”

Aqua really couldn’t deny her anything.

“I promise. Once I know my friends are safe, I’ll come visit you.”

Cinderella leaned forward and kissed Aqua on the corner of her mouth.

“Good-bye.”

With a last smile, Cinderella let go of Aqua’s hands and went inside the house. She didn’t look back.

“Goodbye, Cinderella.”

She wished it didn’t sound so final.

  


Terra and Ven found her at the outskirts of the forest some time later, hands on their knees and panting.

“What took you so long?” she joked.

Ven spoke between pants, “We- had- to beat the- the shoe guy.”

“Shoe guy?”

“Cinderella dropped her glass slipper,” Terra explained. “Now the prince is using it to look for her.”

The royal coach came into sight as if on cue.

“You there,” the duke called from the carriage window, “Did you happen to see a young woman run by?”

“Oh yes, sir,” Aqua called back. She hoped she wasn’t recognizable from the distance they were at. “I saw her go into Lady Tremaine’s house. Her _golden hair_ was really quite something!”

The carriage sped off in the direction of the house.

“Was that necessary?” Ven asked. 

“I want to be very sure that they find Cinderella,” she said. “Come watch with me.”

Together, they watched the duke enter the Tremaine household. They heard glass shattering, then a cry of jubilee.

Cinderella left the house with her glass slipper in her hand. The duke opened the carriage door.

Cinderella was smiling.

As the coach sped away, the Tremaines stormed out of their house and towards the woods. Darkness tread on their heels in a smoky miasma.

“...Cinderella will be put in her place,” she heard Lady Tremaine say.

Aqua stepped forward, Rainfell in hand.

“You will do no such thing, Tremaine.”

“Aqua!” Terra and Ven hissed from the treeline.

“And who are you, exactly?”

“Mother,” one of the girls gasped, “she was at the ball!”

“Yes,” the other said, “she was the girl dancing with Cinderella.”

Aqua smiled. “That’s right. I’m the classless foreign lesbian who helped your step daughter escape you.”

“Aqua!” Ven hissed again. “What are you doing?”

The amount of anger that surfaced on Tremaine’s face was comical.

“Why, you-”

The sound of screeching wheels cut her off.

Right on time.

Terra shouted, “Unversed!” as he leapt at the cursed carriage that had sped from the woods. He tried to stop it, but it kept rolling towards the Tremaines’ anger. Ven was only able to roll out of the way.

Aqua held up Rainfell. The Tremaines looked up and screamed.

The pumpkin bombs that had been falling towards the Tremaines bounced off Aqua’s barrier. The Tremaines fell back in terror. Ven and Terra threw their Keyblades at the carriage, and it turned around to engage with them.

Aqua smiled an icicle smile and looked down into Tremaine’s eyes. They were wide and swimming with tears. It was satisfying to see her cold, callous attitude shatter into abject terror. 

She looked forward to the day when Xehanort broke before her like this. 

“Remember this fear,” she said in a steely voice. “This is what you made Cinderella feel every day for more than ten years. And if you ever even look at her again, the entire royal army will be at your heels. I almost look forward to it.”

Aqua turned without another word and ran to help her friends.

  


Ven sat in the grass, legs splayed and chest heaving.

“Was that really necessary, Aqua?”

“Yes. The Unversed was attracted to their negativity. I figured that it would be best if it went for them while I was present.”

Terra narrowed his eyes. “You knew this would happen.”

It wasn’t a question.

“Uh, I know this might sound a little mean, but if you knew it was going to attack them, why did you stop it? They’re horrible! They treated Cinderella like a slave.”

Aqua looked up at the castle that loomed above. “I believe in the power of light. Cinderella’s heart will shine now that she’s where she belongs. It will be impossible not to be affected by it. Tremaine belongs in jail, but Cinderella’s stepsisters deserve a chance to learn how wonderful she is. And I believe that they will.”

Terra looked at her. “You have a lot of faith in people with darkness.”

She met his gaze and gave him a wry smile. “It would be hypocritical not to,” she said.

Ven frowned. “Aqua, what are you saying? Your heart doesn’t have darkness in it. How would it be hypocritical?”

Oh no.

Surprisingly, Terra spoke up. “Ven, there is darkness in a lot of different places, even ones you might not expect. That doesn’t make it bad. It all depends on how its used. There should be a balance between darkness and light.”

Aqua froze. Alarm bells sounded in her head.

Master Eraqus had never taught them anything like that, which meant... 

“That’s new.” Aqua tried to keep her voice even. “Where did you hear that from?”

Terra glared at her defensively. “Master Xehanort.” 

Oh no no no. Aqua was stopping this right now. She stood up.

“Terra. Ven. I need to talk to you.”

Ven shot up. “You’re finally going to give us answers?”

Despite the gravity of the situation, Aqua smiled. That was her curious little Ven.

“Some of them. But not here. Not where someone could be watching.”

“I have just the place,” Terra said.

  



	5. Keyblade Badlands

Chapter 5: The Keyblade Badlands

It turned out that the place Terra was talking about was the Keyblade Graveyard. Aqua grimaced behind her helmet, but she didn’t say anything. Her one consolation was Ven looked even more uncomfortable than she did. He kept playing with his hands before they even landed.

Luckily, the place he took them was in the general badlands, away from the fallen keys. Maybe he didn’t even know that the battlefield existed. Ven was still uncomfortable when they landed. He alternated between looking around for something and closing his eyes as if trying to remember something. Did he somehow remember the other timeline?

Aqua bent down to Ven’s eye level.

“Are you okay?” she asked him quietly.

“I don’t like this place,” he said. “It feels… wrong.”

“I don’t like it either,” Aqua said. “We don’t have to stay here a moment longer than we have to.”

Terra circled once with his glider before landing next to them. He retracted his armor.

“I checked everywhere,” he said. “There’s no one else here. And the ground is flat, so there’s no way someone could be listening.”

Aqua wished the only world with flat land would be anywhere else. Why wasn’t Terra unsettled by this place? Was it really just rock and dust to him? Aqua hated it because of everything that had gone wrong there, but Ven had never been here before, and he hated it. And it couldn’t be because of his darkness, because Terra’s heart was no darker than hers. 

She chalked it up to Ven’s light and sat down cross-legged. The dusty ground was horrible to sit on. Overhead, the sun was like a torch against her skin. The air was stiff and dead.

Ven and Terra sat next to her, forming a triangle of sorts. Ven was fiddling with a zipper on his jacket.

“So.” Terra’s voice was sharp. “You wanted to talk.”

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

“Terra,” she said, “I want to start by saying I’m not mad at you, nor am I judging you. I’m just worried.”

“Why are you worried about me?” His voice was still pointed. This was not going well.

“Is this about why you don’t like Master Xehanort?” Ven blurted out.

Ven, the light of her life. Aqua had never been more grateful for one of his outbursts, but she had to at least pretend to be objective about this.

“What makes you think I don’t like Xehanort?”

“Well,” Terra said, “there’s the fact that you don’t call him Master when you address him.”

“And during the test, you looked like you wanted to attack him!”

“I’ve never seen you look at anything like that,” Terra said.

Ven looked away. “It was really scary,” he said quietly.

“I’m sorry for scaring you, Ven,” she said, “but I don’t think he’s trustworthy.”

“How could you say that about Ven’s old master?”

Ven looked incredulous. “He was my old master?”

“Well, do you remember what condition Ven arrived in? He didn’t wake for months.”

“That wasn’t his fault!” Terra’s voice was an explosion. Ven flinched. Terra took a deep breath and started again. “I’m sorry. But Master Xehanort told me what happened to Ven before he came to us.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes.”

“And what exactly was it?”

Terra’s eyes shifted to Ven. “I don’t want to talk about it in front of Ven.”

“Hey!” Ven said. “I deserve to know what happened to me!”

“I agree with Ven,” Aqua said. “He deserves to know what Xehanort did to him.”

“It wasn’t- Arg!” Terra grabbed his hair with a snarl.

Aqua felt a pang of guilt. She put her hand on his knee.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I didn’t mean to get you worked up.”

“Yeah, well, you did.”

“I’m sorry,” she said again. “You’re both right. I have a lot of feelings about Xehanort, none of which are pleasant, and I was taking them out on you. I’m sorry, Terra.”

Terra relaxed. “It’s okay.”

“Terra?” Ven’s voice was soft, fragile. “What happened to me?”

Terra crumbled under Ven’s gaze. He put his hand on Ven’s shoulder and looked into his eyes. “Before I say anything, just know that whatever happens, I love you. You’re like a little brother to me, and this doesn’t change anything.”

“You’re stealing Aqua’s lines,” he joked weakly.

Nobody laughed.

Terra took a deep breath. “You were training one day with Master Xehanort and you gave into the darkness. In order to save you, Master Xehanort stripped away the darkness from your heart. It left you in a coma, so he took you to Master Eraqus. Your darkness became a masked boy named Vanitas.”

“The boy in the mask is…”

This made almost too much sense.

“Yes. Vanitas is your darkness. Since his heart is just darkness, he spreads chaos with the Unversed.”

“He’s using the Unversed?” Ven’s eyes were almost blank with shock.

“He’s making the Unversed.”

Why wasn’t Aqua able to figure that out by herself? Looking back, it seemed so obvious.

Ven grabbed his head. “That means everything that happened is-”

“No.” 

Terra and Aqua spoke at the same time, each surprising the other.

Terra put his hand on Ven’s shoulder again. “You’re a good person, Ven. This doesn’t change anything about that. I know that you don’t want to hurt anyone. That boy is you as much as the lighting Aqua shoots is Aqua.”

“But if I didn’t give in to the darkness, then-”

“Ven.” Aqua put her hand on his other shoulder. “I don’t think that’s what actually happened.”

Terra scowled. “What do you mean?”

“The story about Vanitas makes sense. I just don’t think Xehanort did it for Ven’s own good. Besides, do you really think Ven would give into the darkness? Especially over something like training?”

“I mean, it’s not like I was the same person I am now,” Ven said. “If I had enough darkness in my heart to make something like Vanitas, then who knows what else I was capable of?” 

The question hung in the stale air.

“That’s everything I was told,” Terra said. “But Aqua, I’ve known you for almost our entire lives, and the first time I even saw Master Xehanort was when he brought Ven to us. So why don’t you trust him?”

Could she tell them? Should she tell them?

“He’s a bodysnatcher!”

Aqua’s head snapped over to Ven. “What?”

“What?”

Ven seemed to shrink in on himself. “Aqua said bodysnatchers have white hair and yellow eyes. Xehanort has yellow eyes and his beard is white. It could be ‘cuz he’s old, but...”

Sometimes Aqua forgot how clever Ven could be.

“Is that it?” Ven asked. Even now, he looked so eager to be right. “Did he steal someone else’s body?”

“Partially, yes.”

“Wait a second.” Terra was scowling. “I’ve never heard of bodysnatchers. Did you read this somewhere?”

“No, I saw it.”

Too late, Aqua realized she had said it out loud.

“Where?” Ven asked. “How?”

“What happened?”

Aqua took a deep breath. This was happening.

“I can’t tell you all of the details now. I will soon, I promise, but it’s… hard to talk about.”

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

“This was back when I was a different person. Xehanort was just another Master to me, nothing more. I had never even talked to him. But, one day, one of my best friends began to change. He was straying from our master’s teachings and going down a dark path. I had faith that he would be okay, that he would do the right thing, but one day I learned that he helped Xehanort destroy our master.”

Ven’s hands flew to his mouth. Terra looked horrified.

“He told me that Xehanort had tricked him into helping him do it. He swore to atone, but the next time I saw him... he wasn’t himself.” Aqua felt tears start to well up in her eyes. Just the memory of those yellow eyes and that bone-white hair made her shake. “Xehanort had stolen his body from him, but he was still inside, and-” Aqua choked on a sob. Tears were rolling down her cheeks and landing on the dusty ground. “He was fighting. I had faith that he would win, that he would take his body back, because the alternative was too horrible to think about. The next time I saw him, I was so happy, but he said that he messed up, that Xehanort was a part of him now, and-” 

Aqua took a deep, shuddering breath. 

“That- that was the last time I saw him.”

She couldn’t talk anymore. All she could do was sob.

That’s right- she had failed him. She could save this Terra if she was lucky, but did the Terra from her original timeline still exist? Was he going to fight forever with no one to help him? Would he never be free?

Aqua wailed. 

It didn’t matter if she could save Terra now, because she had failed him then.

She felt strong arms wrap around her.

Terra.

Aqua buried her face into the crook between his neck and his shoulder and cried. She cried for the Terra that she had abandoned in the prison of his own body, for the Ven that would sleep forever, for the girl in the darkness that would never leave it.

She had given up on them. 

What if she failed this time? How many times would she have to relive this to find a timeline where they could just live together in peace?

Maybe she wouldn’t. If she failed this time, she would send her heart back to her original timeline and continue her walk through the dark. She would wake up her Ven and free her Terra.

“I believe you,” Terra said.

But that was then. This was now. She could still prevent it all from happening. Maybe if she succeeded, the other timeline would be destroyed, and there would exist no universe where her friends suffered a fate worse than death.

“R-really?”

“Yeah. I’m sorry for doubting you before.”

“t’s okay.”

“Terra?” It was Ven’s voice, small as a mouse. “The masked boy- Vanitas- he said that if I didn’t find you, you’d become a different person. I think this is what he meant.”

Aqua could feel Terra freeze beneath her.

“Xehanort told me he could help both of us with our darkness. He said that Master Eraqus would abandon us as masters if we didn’t learn to channel it. But I think my heart knew something was wrong. I couldn’t stop seeing the face you made when you saw him. But I didn’t listen to it. I was scared. I wanted to be stronger, so I ignored it and kept following him. I didn’t have faith in you. I’m sorry.”

Aqua felt a faint breeze through her hair. Perhaps it was her imagination, but the air felt a little bit cleaner. 

Slowly, her sobs shuddered to a stop. She got up and wiped her face with her sleeve before offering her hand to Terra.

He looked at her arm. “No, thanks,” he said with a crooked smile. “I don’t want your cooties.”

She slapped his arm half-heartedly.

“Let’s get out of here,” Ven said. 

“I know of another world we can go to,” Aqua said. “It’s much nicer than this one. It has lots of flowers.”

Ven forced a smile. “Sometimes you’re such a girl, Aqua.”

“Hey, what do you mean by ‘sometimes’?” 

None of them laughed, but their hearts were a bit lighter now.


	6. Radiant Garden

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is long. a lot happens, so buckle up
> 
> (trash gremlin time)

Chapter 6: Radiant Garden

Radiant Garden was just as bright and colorful as it was the first time Aqua had visited it. The slight perfume of flowers floated through the air. The fountain sparkled in the sun, and the cobblestones were clean, even where she had dove through to-

“Woah!” Ven was looking around, wide-eyed. “This really is beautiful! Aqua, you win.”

“What did I win?”

“Well, between Terra’s world and your world, your world is a lot better.”

“Hey,” Terra said, “the world I chose served its purpose.”

Ven pointed at the castle. “What is that? I wanna check it out.”

“Alright then,” Aqua said, “let’s go.”

They were up the first set of stairs when they heard a little girl scream.

_Kairi._

Ven and Terra ran towards the sound instinctively. Just like before, Kairi was running from a pack of Unversed. She was trapped against the wall for an instant, but she slipped around the Unversed and ran towards Aqua, grabbing Rainfell like before.

Ven didn’t even glance back. “Go! Take her to safety. We got this!”

Aqua picked up Kairi and weaved through the Unversed. The spot in the shadow of the wall that she had put her in last time was still safe from Unversed.

“Stay here,” she said. 

Kairi nodded. Aqua couldn’t help but pat her on the head before running off to help Ven and Terra. 

By the time she made it, most of the Unversed were already gone. Ven was sucking them up with an Aeroga (a third level spell! Aqua made a note to congratulate him on it later), and then hitting them with weaker elemental spells or Wayward Wind. Terra was using a similar strategy with a Zero Gravity spell (who had learned it from whom?), except he was just whaling on them with Earthshaker once they were immobilized. Aqua stood back by Kairi and finished off the remaining Unversed with her Shotlock.

Once the last Unversed had faded, Kairi ran back over to Aqua. Terra and Ven dismissed their Keyblades and ran to her.

Terra kneeled so he was eye-level with Kairi. “Are you alright?”

Kairi smiled and nodded, holding out the flowers in her hand. “Here! They’re for all of you. Thank you for saving me.”

Terra took them gently and patted her on the head with his other hand. She giggled. “What’s your name?”

“Kairi.”

“My name is Aqua.”

“I’m Ventus, but everyone calls me Ven.”

“My name’s Terra. It’s nice to meet you, Kairi.”

“Nice to meet you too!”

Aqua smiled and touched Kairi’s necklace.

“There. I cast a spell on you so you’ll be safe, even if we’re not here to protect you.”

“Thanks!”

“Kairi!” Kairi’s grandmother called.

“Coming, Grandma!” Kairi scampered off.

“There you are. It’s time to go.”

“Grandma! Could you tell me that story?”

“Again, dear?”

“Pleease?”

“Very well, then. Long ago, people lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of light. Everyone loved the light. Then people began to fight over it. They wanted to keep it for themselves. Thus darkness was born in their hearts. The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people’s hearts. It covered everything, and the world disappeared. But small fragments of light survived, in the heart of children. With these fragments of light, children rebuilt the lost world. It’s the world we live in now. But the true light sleeps within the darkness. That’s why the worlds are still scattered, divided from one another. But someday, a door to the innermost darkness will open, and the true light will return. So, listen, child. Even in the deepest darkness, there will always be a light to guide you. Believe in the light, and the darkness will never defeat you. Your heart will shine with its power and push the darkness away.”

Aqua smiled at the two as they walked away.

“I hate that story.”

“Huh?” Aqua turned to Ven. “Why? It’s a lovely story about finding the light in the deepest darkness.”

Ven was scowling. It looked wrong on him. “What about the children that weren’t picked to carry the light? And what happened to the ones that were?”

“What?”

“Ven,” Terra said, “I don’t think that’s how it works. Besides, it’s just a story.”

“I know. It just… feels wrong, you know?”

Terra and Aqua exchanged a glance. Ven had never acted like this before. The closest thing Aqua could think of was- 

Something massive flew over their heads.

“Unversed!” Ven shouted.

“Let’s go.”

They followed the massive Unversed to the reactor, where it combined with its other two parts.

“Let’s take out its limbs first. I’ll cover you with magic.”

“Gotcha. Let’s go, Ven.”

Last time, Aqua had been so worried over Ven. A part of her was still anxious, but she knew they could beat the Unversed without incident, and he ran at the arms with such focus and determination it melted some of her fear away. It helped that the Firagas she sent practically incinerated the arm closest to her. The other arm fell to Terra’s Keyblade not soon after.

“Now for the legs!” Terra shouted. “Stay sharp, Ven.”

“Gotcha!”

He sped around the legs, weaving through them and jumping the lasers that they shot. Aqua was too busy dodging those to see what Terra was doing, but one of the legs was shaking. 

“You okay, Ven?” Terra asked.

“Of course.”

Ven finished the other leg with a series of quick strikes ending in an explosion of light, freeing Aqua to blast the torso with waves of elemental magic. The torso cracked.

“Terra!”

“Ven! Now!”

“Let’s do it!”

Together, they struck the armor with their Keyblades. It vanished before it even touched the ground.

“Got ‘im!” Terra cheered with a pump of his fist.

Aqua smiled. “We make a good team.” Already, they were covering each other’s weak points and combining their attacks in ways they never had before. Individually, they were strong, but as a team, they felt unstoppable.

When Aqua caught her breath, she really saw her surroundings for the first time: the place where it had all gone wrong. She had convinced Terra that neither she nor Master Eraqus had faith in him and made Ven think she cared more about being a Master than either of them. But now, there was no sign of any ill sentiment between any of them. Ven was eagerly soaking up suggestions from Terra, and Terra was smiling.

That reminded her- “Ven, I saw that Aeroga you did earlier. That’s a third-level spell! You’re growing so much.”

Ven laughed and blushed under the compliment.

“C’mon guys,” he said, “let’s go explore!”

“You go ahead,” Aqua said. “I have some business to take care of.”

“Okay!” 

Ven trotted off with a smile. This was so much better.

“Terra, can you keep an eye on him?”

“Why? Do you think Ven will get into trouble?”

Aqua smiled. “I know he will. Go and be the responsible one, Master Terra.”

Terra’s smile faded. His voice was flat. “Alright.”

Oops. Maybe everything wasn’t perfect between her and Terra. They really needed to talk. But there was another dark boy she had to confront first. 

Aqua walked through the city in the opposite direction until she was back at the front plaza.

She felt him before she saw him. “Hello, Vanitas.”

Vanitas melted from the shadows and stepped forward. “So you know my name. Congratulations. I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced yet.”

“Your plan isn’t going to work.”

Aqua couldn’t see his face under the mask, if he even had one, but Vanitas couldn’t hide the shock in his voice. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t try to combine with Ven. You’re too domineering. You’ll possess his body instead of fusing, and that will prevent the ꭓ-blade from forming.”

“Oh yeah? And how are you so sure?”

Without letting herself hesitate, Aqua summoned Master Keeper.

“What is that?”

“It’s my master’s Keyblade. I’m from the future. I saw you try to form the ꭓ-blade, and I was there when Ven shattered his own heart to stop you.”

There was a pause. Then Vanitas burst into hysterical laughter.

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

“If you don’t believe me, look at my master’s Keyblade.”

“You won’t be alive long enough for me to double-check.”

How had someone so violent come from Ven?

Aqua sighed and closed her eyes. Right as Vanitas was about to strike her, she activated her Ghost Drive. Vanitas snarled as she disappeared from in front of him, only to attack him from above. She jumped from image to image, never letting him lock onto one.

“Too slow,” she taunted, catching him in her finishing explosion.

That really riled him up. Vanitas shot bolts of darkness from every direction, forcing Aqua to move on the defensive. He moved like Ven and hit like Terra- she needed to end the battle quickly.

Without warning, Aqua pelted Vanitas with Blizzagas, ending with an overwhelming wave of ice.

(Was this a Blizzaza? Aqua didn’t have time to dwell on it)

Vanitas fell to his knees, snarling like a cornered wild animal.

“You… how did you learn that?”

“I learned it from you,” Aqua said coolly. Her tone seemed to make him even angrier, so she continued. “We fought a lot in the last timeline. I was bound to learn something from you, don’t you think?”

Vanitas’s snarling turned into a yell-

which turned into coughing.

Aqua backed up in surprise as Vanitas kept hacking. What was going on?

Vanitas ripped off his mask, and Aqua gasped. He did have a face- Ven’s face- except with yellow eyes and longer black hair. He looked so small with his face contorted in pain, almost even younger than Ven.

_“Deep in the dark does a child lay. Saving him will save the day.”_

The magic mirror’s words echoed through Aqua’s head. 

Was he the child? Was she supposed to save _Vanitas_? Xehanort’s demon?

But he had been a part of Ven, once. Maybe there was something in him that could still be saved.

Vanitas vomited something black. He kept hacking and spitting until the black goo he expelled coagulated into a single form with red eyes. The Unversed that formed ran at Aqua, but she struck it down instantly. Vanitas flinched, as if she had struck him instead.

Blood roared in Aqua’s ears. Her eyes widened in horror. Did he feel every strike that landed on the Unversed? This is what Vanitas had to live through?

“Don’t pity me!” Vanitas shouted. He stuck his helmet on and leaped to his feet.

Aqua tried to keep her voice cool, but there was a tremor to it. “You can’t tell me what to do. Xehanort hurt you, too.”

He laughed again. It was shakier this time. “You’re an idiot. You’re all idiots! My suffering is what makes me stronger! And you’re stupid for telling me where you came from. Do you think just because you saw me weak that I won’t tell the Master?”

“I would be more surprised if he didn’t know.”

He wheezed in laughter. “You think you know everything. I can’t wait to see the look on your face when you realize you don’t.”

With a final hysterical laugh, Vanitas walked into the shadows and disappeared.

Aqua released the breath she had been holding and dismissed Master Keeper.

“Aqua?”

Aqua turned. Terra was watching from the edge of the square. She had no idea how long he had been there.

He approached her, brow furrowed. “Was that Vanitas?”

Quick breath in, quick breath out.

“Yes.”

“And you just let him go?”

“Terra, it’s not that simple.”

“Then tell me why. Why didn’t you fight him? The Master told us to get rid of the Unversed. Vanitas is the source of the Unversed. You could have destroyed him, but you let him go! I didn’t think that you’d think yourself above the Master.” 

“That’s not true!

Terra’s looked away. “It doesn’t matter why you let him go. I’ll go after him and keep Ven safe.”

Aqua huffed. “Fine. Let me get Ven.”

“I want to go alone.”

“Why, Terra?” Aqua failed to keep the exasperation from her tone. 

“I don’t need your permission to travel somewhere by myself.” Terra’s face darkened. “Or do you not trust me? Have you been spying on me so I don’t get possessed like your friend did?”

“Yes.”

Aqua’s hands flew to her mouth. Out of all the times for her to accidentally talk to herself, this was the absolute worst.

Terra stepped back like he had been stung, before narrowing his eyes and slightly baring his teeth. “I knew it.”

He walked past her without looking back.

Aqua couldn’t breathe. 

She had failed. She had convinced Terra that she didn’t believe in him, and now he was leaving, and by the time she caught up to him he would be a different person. Xehanort would get to him somehow, and she would lose him again.

It was worse the second time he walked away, because now she knew there was no getting him back.

No.

“NO!” she roared. “I WON’T LET YOU LEAVE THIS TIME!”

Terra leapt back just in time to avoid hitting the giant barrier Aqua had created around them.

“We’re not done here! I’m not letting you leave!”

If Terra had been angry before, he was downright aggressive now. Aqua could practically see the darkness floating around him.

“I just want to be left alone! You’re not in charge of me just because Master Eraqus named you Master!” Earthshaker appeared in his hand. “Let me go, Aqua!”

Aqua called Rainfell. “I won’t. Not again.”

Terra narrowed his eyes. “Alright.”

 _“Are we really going to be doing this?”_ he was asking.

Aqua sliced Rainfell into her battle stance.

“ _I_ _guess we are,_ ” she replied.

Instantly, Aqua knew this would not be like their fight during the test. There would be no dance, no fair play, no holding back. When they were children, they fought by biting and scratching and pinching. There was the same energy in the air, but they had Keyblades instead of teeth and magic instead of nails. They were both far more dangerous than they were as children.

Terra attacked first like he always did, shooting dark fire at Aqua. She rolled away to dodge it, but by the time she was in attack position, Terra was rushing at her with fury in his eyes.

Terra had always pulled his hits during sparring sessions. Even if there was healing magic, he knew how much damage he could cause. So when Aqua made the mistake of trying to block him, she felt his true power for the first time in her life.

The blow knocked her away despite her reinforcing it. Aqua dug Rainfell into the cobblestones in an attempt to slow her movement. Terra rushed at her again.

Aqua waited until he was about to strike and spun behind him, leaving Rainfell behind and pushing him away with a kick. The surprise of the blow was more powerful than the kick itself. Terra stumbled, and Aqua took the opportunity to call Rainfell back to blast him with a point-blank Firaga. Before he could recover, Aqua leapt out of his range

Aqua didn’t like using mine spells, and Terra knew it. But Master Eraqus had insisted she learn how to use them anyway, and she had never been more grateful for that. Terra, in his haste to follow her, stepped into a ring of them and took the full force of the explosion.

Green light pulsed through Terra as he called his Curaga. It really was going to be a long and brutal fight.

Aqua fired a barrage of elemental spells at Terra, but he blocked all of them. He was now in the middle of the arena Aqua had created, forcing her to circle him. She tried faking one way and shooting a Thundaga the other, but Terra just turned and blocked it.

Aqua was stuck. She knew she could outmaneuver him if she managed to get inside his guard, but Terra knew it too. It would only take one direct hit from Earthshaker to end the battle.

Terra pointed Earthshaker at her, and she recognized it as his Shotlock an instant too late. Bolts of darkness raced at her from every direction. Aqua tried to dodge, but the earth itself moved beneath her feet.

When had Terra learned how to do that?

She dug Rainfell into the stones to steady her, but Terra seemed to know that she would do that and sent another Dark Firaga at her. She blocked most of it, but some stray wisps cut through her tights and burned her leg.

Aqua grit her teeth as her healing spell sang through her.

She couldn’t win.

The thought hit her like a hit from Earthshaker. She had all of the power and knowledge from the last timeline, but she was still losing. Terra and Ven were learning and growing from their travels. Had Aqua been stagnant?

No. If she couldn’t overpower Terra, she would just have to outplay him.

Ironically, it was Vanitas who had given her the idea. She wouldn’t be able to perform another Ghost Drive, but she could do the next best thing.

Aqua ran directly at Terra. He held his Keyblade steadily, ready to strike the instant the opportunity presented itself or block if it didn’t. She sent a low Blizzard spell on her right, freezing the ground beneath Terra. He dug his boots into the thin layer of frost to reassert his balance, but Aqua was too far away to take advantage of it. Instead, she bent her knees and looked up.

Terra followed her eyes up and moved Earthshaker to prepare for a jump attack.

Instead, Aqua rolled between his legs. The ice on the cobblestones gave her just enough distance for her to come up directly behind him.

Aqua didn’t give Terra even an instant to recover. She activated her Blade Charge and slammed Rainfell into his back. The blade made a sickening thud. He stumbled, and Aqua took the opportunity to hit him again on the back of his knees. As Terra fell forward, Aqua helped him down with a strike from Rainfell. 

Terra cried out as he hit the cobblestones, barely stopping his face from hitting the ground.

Aqua dug the tip of Rainfell under his chin.

“Yield,” she growled.

Terra’s eyes flashed yellow.

“No.”

He reached out and reaped Aqua’s ankles out from under her. She barely had enough time to land correctly before Terra was on top of her, grabbing her arm for a submission.

Aqua gritted her teeth. She could beat Terra in hand-to-hand combat, but he was far superior in his ground technique, even without considering the size difference.

He wanted to play dirty? Fine.

She took a breath and shouted directly in his ear. Terra immediately covered his ear with a wince, but it wasn’t enough to defeat him.

She would have to play even dirtier.

Aqua grabbed Terra’s hip and sent a wave of ice through his body.

She hated that she had learned that trick from Xehanort.

Terra didn’t even have time to gasp before the frost encapsulated him. It might not have done much if he were at full strength, but they were both on their last breaths. Aqua wriggled out from under him and flipped his frozen body over before pointing Rainfell at his neck again.

“I said yield.” If Aqua’s voice was cold before, it was glacial now.

Terra was much bigger than Ven, so the ice had only gone up to his collar. He was able to look away from Aqua.

“You really are better than me,” he said.

Tears slowly tracked down his face. 

Aqua relaxed and lowered her barrier around them. 

The fight was over.

Aqua was out of breath and a cut on her leg stung where she had been hit by Terra’s dark fire. Her arms felt like lead. She looked around. The courtyard looked just as beat up as she was- there were gourges where Aqua had dug Rainfell in. The cobblestones were singed or frozen from elemental spells.

 _Oops_.

It was still better than what happened in the square in the first timeline.

She sat down on the ground and rested Terra’s head on her lap, wiping the tears from his face with a gentle smile. 

“Don’t be silly,” she said. “You are the most capable Keyblade wielder I have ever met.”

“And yet here I am, frozen and defeated,” he said. Quieter, he added, “I’m never going to be good enough to be a master. With or without the darkness.”

Aqua grabbed his hand and melted it. The ice receded from Terra’s body until he was able to move again. Despite this, he simply rolled on his side, keeping his head in Aqua’s lap. Aqua began to stroke his hair.

“Is that what this was about?”

Terra said nothing.

“Terra, you already are a master. I know that Master Eraqus didn’t give you the title, and he may never see you as a master, but that doesn’t matter. You’re strong and capable. One day, the Master isn’t going to be here anymore, and his approval won’t matter. You have to believe in yourself now, the way I believe in you.”

“I don’t understand,” he said. “You say that you believe in me, that I’m strong, but you’re afraid to let me go anywhere on my own.”

Aqua closed her eyes. “I don’t know how Xehanort got to y-my friend. I’m terrified that if you leave, he’ll find a way to control you.”

“I still don’t get it. Do you really believe in me if you think he can take control that easily?”

“Your strength is the problem. You are kind, and loyal, and protective, and I love that about you, but I’m afraid he’ll use those strengths against you.”

Terra closed his eyes. “Oh.”

For a while, Aqua just listened to their breathing. Distantly, she could hear the rest of the city go about their daily business. A walking duck entered a building with an awning. A man in a uniform entered the square, saw the broken cobblestones and holes, and left shaking his head. A child ran after him holding a melting popsicle.

“Can I ask you something?”

Terra didn’t open his eyes. “Go ahead.”

“Why did you want to leave by yourself? Do you not like traveling with Ven or me?”

Terra sighed. “I wanted to prove to myself that I was strong enough to do it alone. A part of me still wants to.”

“I know you’re strong enough to do it yourself, but-”

“You don’t want me to have the same fate as your friend.”

Aqua smiled. “Well, yes, but I like traveling with you and Ven. Ven’s having the time of his life. He told me that all he ever wanted was to fight alongside us. And I love you, Terra. You’re like a brother to me. All I want is for the three of us to be together forever.”

Terra pulled out his Wayfinder and smiled. “An unbreakable connection.”

“Yeah.” 

A bond so strong that not even time could keep them apart.

The sound of running feet caused Aqua to look up.

“It looks like Ven found us,” she said. She waved to him, and he waved back.

“Tell him that if he wants to go somewhere he’ll have to move me himself.”

Aqua giggled.

Ven put his hands on his knees and panted. “There you guys are! I was looking everywhere for you.” He seemed to notice the state of the square and their hair and clothes. “What happened here? Were there Unversed?”

Terra cracked a smile. “Yeah, a nasty witch that froze me.”

“Terra, you’re not going to tell him about the giant golem that kept knocking me down?”

They looked at each other and laughed.

The three of them pooled their munny to buy a single hotel room with two beds. Terra argued that since he was bigger than both Ven and Aqua, he should get an entire bed to himself. Aqua argued that he wouldn’t be able to do that if she pushed him off the bed first.

Ven suggested that they push the beds together, but then they had to decide who would sleep on the crack. Aqua argued that Terra should, since he was bigger than both Ven and herself.

“On second thought,” Ven had said, “we should settle this in a pillow fight. Winner gets an entire bed to themselves!”

And that’s how Ven got to spend the night with an entire queen bed to himself.

The second Aqua crawled into bed, she realized that Terra was right- he was big enough to get his own bed. He had grown way too much since the last time Aqua was forced to share a bed with him. His legs hung off the edge, so he had to curl up in order to fit on the bed in the first place. Aqua’s arm was almost hanging off the side. But a deal was a deal, so Aqua just had to grit her teeth and bear it while Ven got to stretch out over the entire mattress.

Luckily, the exhaustion her fight with Terra hit her almost as soon as she curled up. Aqua relaxed, and soon she was asleep.

Her mind, however, wasn’t about to let her rest so easily. 

_She dreamed about swimming through water so dark it could be oil. The air in her lungs was dragging her down like the air in the Realm of Darkness, but she knew she had to reach something at the bottom. At last, her fingers grasped onto something- a solid arm._

_She had found him!_

_But then he turned, and his malicious grin was visible through the glow of his yellow eyes._

“Terra!”

Aqua’s chest was heaving. She was covered in a cold sweat.

“...Aqua?” Terra’s voice was hoarse from sleep. “Is everything okay?”

Blue peeked from half-lidded eyes. His hair was almost too dark to see in the limited light.

“Yeah,” she said. “I just had a nightmare.”

Terra pushed himself halfway up. “Wanna talk about it?”

Aqua smiled. “No, it’s okay. I just want to go back to sleep.”

“A’ight. Night, Aqua.”

“Good night, Terra.”

His breaths had evened out within a minute of falling back on his pillow. Aqua wished she could fall asleep that easily. She settled back into bed anyway

Aqua looked over to Ven’s bed. He was snoring in tiny kitten-snores. It was adorable. Despite having the entire bed to himself, he was asleep in his normal sleeping position, his hands folded behind his head. Briefly, she considered moving to the bed with more room, but Ven had won the pillow fight fair and square.

Well, he waited on the side until Terra and Aqua had knocked each other around before delivering the final blows on both of them. That was fair enough. They would get him next time

She drifted back to sleep with a peaceful smile on her face. 

The next morning, by the time Aqua was awake, Ven and Terra were sitting on Ven’s bed. For some reason, the darkness in her heart felt like it was weighing her down and draining her energy. Maybe it was just her fight with Terra. When finally she got up, they stopped talking.

She yawned and ruffled Ven’s hair, which he pretended to dislike. “What are you doing up so early?”

Ven looked away and fiddled with his zipper. “Talking about things.”

Terra also refused to look at her. “You should get ready soon. We need to talk to you.”

Uh-oh. Aqua’s stomach twisted, but she complied. Ven was fiddling with his hands the entire time, more so than usual. Once she was ready, she sat on Ven’s bed, next to Terra and Ven. They made the same triangle they did in the Keyblade Graveyard.

The reminder did not sit well with her. Her heart was still heavy with an invisible weight. Aqua knew this was going to be a bad day.

“So,” she said in a fake-happy voice, “what do you want to talk about?”

“Your story doesn’t add up,” Ven said.

Aqua froze. She would really have to tell them this time. The universe would not collapse around her (her conversation with Vanitas proved as much), but it felt like her mind might. Her heart sped up.

“How so?” Aqua wasn’t doubting it, but she wanted to hear what they thought first.

Terra spoke. “Well, this is the first time you’ve mentioned your life before the Master. You said that you had another master, but when you first came to The Land of Departure, you had no experience. You could barely hold your Keyblade.” 

“Also, Xehanort is an old man,” Ven said. “If that’s the body of your friend, it means you were friends with someone really old when you were really young.”

Aqua took a deep breath. She had to get this right. “I didn’t say I was young, I said I was a different person.” Ven opened his mouth, but before he could interject, she said “No, Ven, I’m still not a bodysn-“

But she kind of was, wasn’t she? 

Deep breath in. 

Deep breath out. 

“Actually, I am a bodysnatcher, but only of my past body.”

Ven’s eyes went wide. “Does that mean you’re some kind of time traveler?”

“Yes. I’m from the future.”

It was almost funny, she noted distantly- Terra and Ven reacted in the same way. Their eyes went wide and they flinched backwards. 

“The- the future?” Terra echoed faintly. 

“This makes so much sense,” Ven whispered. “That’s why you know so much.”

“Aqua?” Terra’s voice sounded too small. “Am I- am I your friend that Xehanort…”

He couldn’t even finish the question. 

“Yes.”

His face fell in his hands. “I struck down the Master?”

Aqua’s heart twisted. “I wasn’t there, but you said that Xehanort tricked you into helping him.”

“How?”

“You said that the Master tried to hurt Ven.”

Terra looked at his hands. His face was dark. “I can see myself hurting the Master if it meant protecting Ven.”

Ven’s expression shifted from shock to horror. “Terra… I’m not worth destroying someone over.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Aqua said. “Of course you are. The Master would trade his life for yours, just as he would for any of us.”

“Well then why?” Ven asked. The question was almost angry. “Why did he try to hurt me if he really cares about us?”

“The ꭓ-blade,” she said. “The Master must have known.”

“The ꭓ-blade?” Ven’s voice was flat.

“It’s…” Aqua took a second to think. Xehanort had explained everything before the battle, but everything was happening so quickly. “I think it’s a weapon- the ultimate Keyblade. Xehanort said that Keyblade wielders fought in a Keyblade War to forge it, and he wants it.”

“What does this ꭓ-blade have to do with Ven?” Terra asked.

Aqua remembered this too well. She remembered Xehanort pointing at Ven and saying the word as if it were his name. She remembered Ven asking her to put an end to him because he was half of the forces that could create it. 

She remembered how it looked in his hand when she had failed to protect him.

“It’s created when Ven fights Vanitas.”

“But why me?” he cried. “Why am I the one who has to make this thing?”

“Well, he said it was made from light and dark clashing, and your heart is all light, Ven.”

Ven looked down. “It is?”

“Yeah,” Terra said. “You’re like a Princess of Heart. I don’t think there’s any darkness in your heart.”

They sat there, stewing in everything they had learned. Suddenly, Ven bolted up and ran to the door.

“What are you doing?”

“I have to process this,” Ven said. “Alone.”

“You can’t,” Aqua cried. “What if Vanitas gets to you? Or Xehanort?”

“I’ll run,” he said.

“Xehanort can catch you!” She could still see him wriggling in Xehanort’s grip like a suffocating fish.

“I thought you had faith in me! I thought that you knew I could take care of myself!” Ven was angry now. His voice was almost cold. “If you stop me, I’ll know you never believed in me.”

Aqua grabbed his arm. “This isn’t about belief, Ven. This is about keeping you alive!”

Ven huffed. “What does that mean? If Xehanort possessed Terra in the last timeline, then what happened to me? Did he destroy me?”

Aqua’s voice broke. “You did it yourself. I-I couldn’t stop Vanitas from getting to you, and he took your body like Xehanort took Terra’s. The ꭓ-blade was in your hand. But then there was an explosion. The ꭓ-blade was destroyed, but-”

Ven had looked so small. He was small now, but he had looked tiny without a heart, like if she carried him wrong he would crumble into dust.

“But so was your heart.” Aqua’s words were barely a whisper. “It was like when you first came to us- you were breathing, but you weren’t awake. It was awful.”

“You can’t watch me forever.”

“I know.” If she had learned one thing from the last timeline, it was that Ven was like a bird; he had to be free. It hurt Aqua to be the one to cage him, but seeing him comatose was worse. “But I don’t need forever. Just until Xehanort is defeated.”

“If it makes you feel better,” Terra said, “she doesn’t want me to leave either for… similar reasons.”

“You can’t do this! Is this why you wanted to travel with me? Because you wanted to watch me? Did you just want to be my bodyguard after all?”

“No!” Aqua’s heart was racing. This was just like their fight from last time- same world, different location.

But that was why she asked him, wasn’t it? She would have tried to send him home if she knew it would protect him.

“Prove it,” Ven said, jutting his chin out. “I’m not a little kid. If you really think I’m a warrior, not someone you have to have to protect, then let me go.”

What could she do?

Aqua thought back to the bridge. She was relieved when she saw Ven because she knew that she could protect him and watch him. But she was also reminded how strong he really was. 

She let go of him.

“Please be careful,” she said. “I did meet up so I could make sure nothing bad happened, but I really am proud of you. I know you’re strong and brave.” She looked away. “I’m sorry.” Quieter, she added, “please come back.”

Ven turned.

“Wait.”

Aqua went to his eye level and brushed her hand on his cheek. “I know you are a warrior. But you’re also someone I _have_ to protect. Do you understand?”

“I dunno. I- I think so.”

He gave her a quick hug.

“Love you.” 

Then he ran out the door like his life depended on it.

The slam of the door behind him echoed in Aqua’s ears. Her heart was still racing, and her hands were shaking, and when she blinked all she could see was Ven’s back like it was the last she would ever see of him-

Aqua stepped towards the door.

“Are you going after him?” Terra’s voice was even.

“I’ll just watch him. He’ll never even know I’m there.”

“Aqua, he’ll be okay.”

She stepped towards him, fast. “How do you know?” Her voice was like a whip. 

“I don’t,” Terra said, “But I have faith in Ven.”

Faith.

She had faith in Terra, despite everything that had happened. It was only fair that she have faith in Ven. He could run fast, and now that he knew how the ꭓ-blade was made, he would avoid fighting Vanitas.

Aqua smiled. She had faith in Ven.

But she could still see his back every time she closed her eyes, and-

Terra put his hand on her shoulder.

“It’s going to be okay.” 

“I’m scared, Terra. Every time I close my eyes I see him like it’s the last time I ever will and what if I’m making a mistake and he never comes back?” Her voice was rising. “I can’t sleep without seeing you like you were last time. I’m so scared it will happen again. I don’t know what I'd do if I failed again.”

Terra sat back down on the bed and held open his arms. Aqua crawled into his lap and leaned against his chest with her knees tucked to her chest. It was childish, but she didn’t care. Terra wrapped her arms around her and she felt safe. He always gave the best hugs because he was solid, constant, like the ground itself.

“It’s your darkness, isn’t it? Fear?”

“Most of it, yes.”

“I… I thought so,” Terra said. His voice was quiet. She felt it vibrate through his chest. “Ven wasn’t there when you first saw Xehanort. It took me a while to figure out your expression, but it was fear. I’ve never seen you afraid before. That was the expression I saw when I talked to Xehanort. I guess my heart knew that something was wrong before I even knew what you were feeling.”

Being against Terra’s chest was nice. Aqua felt like she could just go to sleep. His gentle heartbeat was like a lullaby.

“Mine’s fear too,” Terra said.

“Hm?”

“My darkness.” Terra’s voice broke with shame. “I’m afraid of losing. I’m afraid that you guys will get hurt. I want to be strong enough to protect you, both of you, but if you beat me, I’m afraid I’m not good enough.” He chuckled. “I can’t win either way.”

“I thought your darkness was anger.”

“I’m still angry. I want to destroy Xehanort for what he did to Ven.” For a second, Terra’s voice changed into a feral growl. “I’m mad at the Master for trying to hurt him. I’m mad at myself for being weak and helping Xehanort strike down the Master.”

“Are you mad at me?”

Terra didn’t even pause. “No.”

“But I won’t let you be alone.”

Terra tightened his grip on her a little. “You need me by your side more than I need space. I realize that now. Besides, I’m not like Ven. I don’t do very well alone.”

At the reminder of Ven, Aqua froze.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought him up.”

“It’s okay,” she said.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

They sat in silence for a little while. Aqua let herself relax against Terra’s chest. Her breaths got deeper, and soon she felt her eyelids drift close…

Aqua awoke to the sound of the door slamming open. Immediately, she jumped from Terra to the door, Keyblade first.

It was Stormfall this time. There was no need to limit herself now that her friends knew everything.

Ven rushed through the door and slammed it shut behind him. His hair was messy and his eyes were wild.

“Ven!” she shouted. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“You were right,” he said. “Vanitas found me. He knew that we had been fighting.”

“Is he here now?”

“I don’t know!”

Aqua healed Ven with a Curaga and took a look around the hotel room. She didn’t see or feel him.

“I don’t think he’s here,” she said. She forced herself to relax and dismissed Stormfall. “But I don’t think we need to be in Radiant Garden anymore.”

“Where should we go?” Terra asked.

That was a good question. There was no real need for them to retrace their steps now.

“Oh, that’s right.” Ven rustled through his pockets until he pulled out the Disney Town tickets. “I got you these tickets.” Ven’s frantic energy faded into annoyance. “He said to give them to my parents.”

“Your parents?” Last time, it was just ‘grown-ups’. Aqua snickered, despite the tension. Terra did too, and soon enough they were both laughing.

“It’s not that funny!”

Terra ruffled Ven’s hair. “I dunno, it’s pretty funny.” He grinned. “Son.”

“Terra!”

Aqua was laughing too hard to breathe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternate ending to hotel scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvlGh-1jU5k


	7. Deep Space

Chapter 7: Deep Space

The Lanes Between glowed with their weird colorlessness as they drifted. Aqua couldn’t quite remember the way to Disney Town, but she was sure it was in this direction…

Aqua sighed as the passage to Deep Space appeared instead. It felt like the white spaceship taunted her as she flew over it. They were lost.

Suddenly, a streak of darkness caused all of them to perk their heads up. Vanitas floated above them like a vengeful specter.

Terra shot at him first, followed by Ven and Aqua, but he just floated away. They made chase on their gliders, but he was too fast. Somehow he was just as maneuverable in the Lanes Between as he was on land, which just wasn’t fair.

Aqua set her jaw. Fairness had nothing to do with it. They were all here, and they’d take him down together. The sentiment floated within them without words. Ven rushed at Vanitas, which took him by surprise. He herded him towards Aqua and Terra, who fired a barrage of shots at him with their gliders.

Vanitas seemed to be taken by surprise for an instant. Before a single shot could actually hit him, however, he backflipped behind Ven, who had to swerve to avoid the bullets. 

Aqua looked around desperately, but she couldn’t find Vanitas anymore. She looked over to Terra to make a signal-

-and there Vanitas was, striking Terra with his Keyblade like it was a bat.

Terra and his glider went flying way farther than he would have on a world. It wouldn’t have been that bad, except he flew too close to the spaceship. The gravitational force sucked in Terra and his glider until they were gone from sight.

“Terra!” Aqua’s shout echoed through her helmet.

Ven and Aqua sped towards the ship. Just before their gliders were sucked in, Aqua looked over her shoulder.

Vanitas wasn’t chasing them. He just stood there, floating.

Aqua couldn’t see his face through his helmet, but she knew he was smirking.

  


Unversed greeted Aqua and Ven with the enthusiasm of an old friend.

Or enemy.

Aqua picked off the weaker ones with her Shotlock while Ven rushed forward. Unfortunately, these Unversed were stronger, so she couldn’t get all of them in one shot. Ven had cast an Aeroga which sucked up the remaining Unversed. They fell from the tornado with a puff of shadowy smoke.

Ven flipped and fidgeted with Wayward Wind. “Even though Vanitas snuck up on me this morning, I got a lot of time to think.”

“What did you think about?”

A small wave of Unversed appeared. Aqua swiped Stormfall, and most of them fell. Ven threw Wayward Wind at the others.

“I never realized how much I mean to you guys,” Ven said. He spun his Keyblade in his hand absent-mindedly. “It’s kind of scary.”

“Is it? Watch the corner.”

Ven ran ahead and knocked away a wave of Unversed with some quick strikes. Aqua kept them frozen with a Blizzaga, and they shattered them with a few swipes.

“Yeah. I knew you loved me, but I didn’t know it was this…” he kicked a remaining piece of ice away, “intense.”

Aqua mulled it over as they leapt towards a new wave of Unversed.

She never considered that Ven might be afraid of her. Was it because of the hotel room?

“I’m sorry if we scared you.”

“No, it’s not that you guys scared me, it’s just…” Ven swiped at a straggling Unversed.

“There’s another wave hiding on the ceiling of the next hallway.”

Ven squinted at them. “Good eye.”

He pointed Wayward Wind at them, dislodging them with his Shotlock. Another round of fire between her and Ven got rid of them quickly.

“It scares me knowing I have that much power over you guys.”

“Well, it’s not power over us…”

Ven looked away and dismissed his Keyblade. “You would destroy someone to protect me. Both of you would.”

“Yes,” Aqua said quietly, “we would.”

Ven still didn’t face her. “If I’m not strong enough, I could be the reason someone is destroyed.”

Aqua smiled and dismissed Stormfall. That was her Ven- compassionate to even his enemies.

“If I had to destroy Vanitas to protect you, would you mind?”

“Vanitas? I don’t know if I’d want him destroyed, but he’s so mean! He was sayin’ really bad stuff earlier, like how he was gonna destroy me just to see the look on your face when you failed to protect me again.” Ven froze. “How did he know about the time travel?”

Aqua looked around, hoping to see some Unversed.

She did not.

“I told him.”

“What?” Ven shouted. “Why would you do that? What if he told Xehanort?”

Aqua almost wished she could summon Unversed, if only to have something to have an escape from the conversation. “I think Xehanort already knows. And I told him to try and talk him down from forming the ꭓ-blade.”

Ven sighed in exasperation. “I dunno Aqua, I think you messed up this time.” 

“Maybe. But I had to try.”

Ven paused and looked at some bins at the end of a short hallway. “Are those Unversed?”

“Good eye.” Aqua zapped them with Thundaga this time, for variety’s sake. Ven had defeated two of them almost before she had raised Stormfall. Aqua poked at what they had dropped with her Keyblade.

“Woah! That’s not Rainfell!”

Aqua smiled bashfully. “This is Stormfall.”

“Can I see?”

Aqua held Stormfall out for Ven to look over. She couldn’t help but smile at his excitement.

“Is this yours? Like, is it from your heart? What happened with Rainfell?”

“Rainfell sort of… evolved at some point. I used Rainfell so you guys wouldn’t be suspicious, but now that you know, I have no need to hold back.”

Ven finally looked up from Stormfall. “This is so cool! Did my Keyblade evolve in the last timeline?”

“Hm… I don’t think so. I think Terra’s did, though. It was a lot wider than Earthshaker.”

Ven grinned. “Maybe Wayward Wind will evolve this time. I hope it gets a cool name, something like… Missing Ache.”

“That’s a dark name for a Keyblade. Where did that come from?”

Ven looked up. “I dunno. It just popped in my head for some reason.”

“Hm.”

Weird.

“Anyway, I don’t mind. It’s really nice, actually.”

“Huh?” Aqua refocused on Ven.

“Oh, I meant about you guys being so… intense.” He looked away and blushed a little. “It’s kind of nice, actually, knowing that there’s someone who’ll really be there for you, no matter what.”

Aqua smiled and ruffled his hair. “Of course. An unbreakable connection, remember?”

“I just wish you guys would care about yourselves sometimes. You look really tired, Aqua.”

Her smile faded. “I am tired.” She forced herself to smile again. “But I’ll be able to rest soon.”

Her boot nudged something metal. Aqua looked down. It was Experiment 626’s Wayfinder.

“Wait, is that a Wayfinder?”

Aqua picked it up. “Experiment 626 must have met Terra again.”

As if saying his name had summoned him, 626 jumped from the shadows and grabbed the makeshift Wayfinder.

“Woah!” Ven jumped and summoned Wayward Wind.

626 had retreated into the shadows, growling at them.

“It’s okay,” Aqua cooed. “See our Keyblades? We’re friends of Terra.”

“Ter...ra?”

Before Aqua could respond, a voice thundered, “Come out, you little trog!”

626 leapt away in a blue flash.

Captain Gantu strode into the hallway.

“You there. Has Experiment 626 passed through this area?”

“No.”

Ven looked back and forth between Aqua and Gantu.

“Hold it right there. Why don’t I know you? What section are you from?”

“I’ve been sent to take care of the monsters.” She gestured to Ven. “The weapons we carry are the only ones that can stop them. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have work to do.”

Ven gaped and ran after Aqua as she strode away.

“Wh-what just happened?”

“This is a spaceship. Experiment 626 is a creature designed to be a weapon, so he’s very aggressive.” She smiled gently. “He just wants some friends, though. He won’t hurt us.”

_A creature designed to be a weapon._

Vanitas’s pained face popped up in her head.

“If only he were so easy to befriend,” she muttered.

“What?”

“Oh, sorry. 626 escaped from his cage. Do you want to help me free him?”

Ven grinned. “Do you have to ask? He looks so cool!”

“Speaking of cool…” Aqua shot a Blizzaga at some Unversed that had appeared.

“Aw man, here too?”

Aqua smiled thinly. “This is nothing compared to the Realm of Darkness.”

Ven stopped in his tracks and looked back at her with awe. “The Realm of Darkness? You’ve been there?”

Aqua sighed and zapped the Unversed that was about to strike him. “Focus, Ven!”

“Fine, I’ll make this quick then.”

A bright aura surrounded Ven, and Wayward Wind split into smaller blades of light that floated behind him like wings. He swept through the line of Unversed, blades flashing through them faster than they could see. The largest of the group ran at him, but he jumped up and slammed the blades down in a circle. WIth a flash of light, the last of the Unversed were destroyed.

Aqua gaped. “That was incredible!”

Ven looked sheepish under the praise. “It’s called Wingblade. Pretty cool, huh?”

“Yes. You’ve grown a lot.”

Ven’s grin faded. “Wait, don’t change the subject on me. You’ve been to the Realm of Darkness?”

Aqua reached into her pocket and clutched her Wayfinder. “‘Been to’ is a bit of an understatement. Mickey said-”

Aqua’s entire brain short-circuited.

_MICKEY._

“How could I have forgotten Mickey?”

“Who’s Mickey?” Ven asked. 

“He’s a friend of mine I met last time. He has a Keyblade, too. I’ll tell you more once we meet up with Terra, okay?”

“Okay.” Ven looked dower. 

Aqua pressed a switch on a device in the center of the room, and they warped into another chamber. Ven looked around in awe of their teleportation, but Aqua just moved forward to the next room.

626 was there, looking for his Wayfinder. He looked up when he heard them.

“Terra,” he said.

Aqua knelt down. “Yes, we’re his friends. My name is Aqua. This is Ven.”

“Fren. Ah-kwah… Ven.”

“Yeah.” Ven kneeled next to Aqua. “We’re not going to hurt you.”

626 hunched its back and growled before retreating. Aqua looked behind her.

“Unversed!”

Ven covered Wayward Wind with lightning before diving in, so Aqua decided to hit them with a Thundaga for consistency. She was about to finish her group off with Stormfall when a blue blur whizzed past her. 626 charged into the pack and went after them one at a time, zipping to one the second he finished with another. It was funny seeing him right next to Ven- they had the same fighting style.

Once 626 had destroyed the last Unversed, he sped off in the direction they came, working the teleporter with ease.

“Woah.” Ven blinked. “He’s really good at handling the Unversed. I thought Keyblades were the only thing that could get ‘em.”

“He’s a tough little guy. Just like you.”

Ven grinned.

As they walked, Aqua couldn’t help but gaze at the windows they passed. Cages lined the walls. One of them was broken, with a hole just large enough for something the size of 626 to climb out of.

Ven followed her gaze. “I can’t imagine what it’d be like to be trapped like that.”

Aqua bit her lip. “Ven… I’m sorry for what happened in the hotel room. I don’t ever want you to feel like I’m trapping you, but I was scared.”

Ven’s smile was gentle. “Don’t worry about it. You let me go in the end, and that’s all that matters.”

“Thank you for coming back.”

“I didn’t want to leave you,” Ven said, “I just needed to be alone for a little while. Just to get some fresh air.”

“I almost followed you. I would have if Terra hadn’t stopped me.”

Ven’s smile faded. “You were right anyway. Vanitas found me. Somehow he knew that we were fighting.”

Was he listening to them? “How?”

“I dunno, but he made some sort of joke about feeling what I felt. How come I can’t feel what he feels?”

Aqua shivered thinking about Vanitas in the square, snarling with pain. “It’s a good thing you can’t.”

“You’re right. I don’t want anything to do with that jerk.”

Aqua took a deep breath. “Ven, I think-”

Ven stopped and looked down. “Hey, is this 626’s Wayfinder? Did he lose it again already?”

“It looks like it. I think he should be close.”

If Aqua remembered correctly, the launch deck was through this hallway.

Dr. Jumba’s voice echoed through it. “Is time to give up. Then I will fix abnormality, and ridiculous behavior stops.”

“626!” Aqua called. “We found your Wayfinder!”

626 raced over and snatched it from her hand. He scuttled away and rubbed it against his cheek.

“We’re looking for Terra, too,” Aqua said. “Do you want to come with us?”

Jumba lumbered through the hallway. “Ah, Terra! I have words for that boy. Look what he did to my creation!”

“He’s not yours,” Aqua said with the barest hint of steel in her voice. “626 has the right to do what he wants, not what you want.”

“Bah! I made him, no? That makes him mine.”

“If you made 626 with the ability to make choices, then he has the right to make them.” To Ven, she said, “C’mon, you two. Let’s go find Terra.”

“Terra!” 626 squeaked.

“Terra!” Ven echoed.

They really were quite alike.

  


Thanks to 626’s vengeful attacks and her and Ven’s teamwork, they made it to the command room without even getting out of breath.

Aqua frowned the second she stepped into the room. Terra wasn’t in the room, but this was the last place on the ship they hadn’t looked. The Grand Councilwoman, however, was in the room.

“It’s you. Tell me, how fares the extermination?”

“It’s going quite well. I believe we are almost finished.”

The Grand Councilwoman gestured to 626’s position on Aqua’s shoulder. “And I see you’ve even delivered me the wanted criminal. Your group is quite efficient.”

Aqua reached up and patted 626’s head. “We’ll be taking the criminal with us. He’s very effective at destroying the Unversed.”

The Grand Councilwoman stepped back. “You do not have the authorization to make that decision.”

Ven looked like he was about to drop into a fighting stance, but Aqua held him back with a gesture.

“Has he committed any crimes?”

The Grand Councilwoman frowned. “He is a crime. He’s extremely dangerous, with enough strength to tear through steel and the intelligence of a supercomputer. If left to his own devices, he might dismantle the entire galaxy.”

“We will keep him contained,” Aqua said. “By the time we finish our mission, you’ll see that he doesn’t need to be persecuted just because he has the potential to be dangerous. Anyone can be as dangerous as he is if they’re treated like a monster.”

_Does that mean that anyone dangerous can become human by being treated as such?_

“One more thing,” Aqua said. “We lost someone in our group. He’s dressed like us. Have you seen him?”

“I have not.” The Grand Councilwoman looked down at a screen. “However, the cameras are showing me two unknown persons: one dressed like you, and one in dark clothing.”

“Vanitas,” Ven muttered. Louder, he said, “Where is the one dressed like us?”

“The launch room. You just missed him.”

Ven kicked the ground.

“Thank you,” Aqua said.

“You can thank me by getting the rest of these things off my ship.”

“Yes ma’am.”

  


“I can’t believe we have to go all the way back to the launch room,” Ven groaned. “We were just there!”

“It’s not that bad, Ven. Let’s make a game out of it.”

That perked him up. “Oh yeah? You’re on!”

“Whoever kills the most Unversed from here to the launch room wins,” she said. “And no interference.”

626 scrambled down Aqua’s back and barked at her.

“626? Do you want to play too?”

He nodded.

“I don’t think it’ll be fair,” she said, “because you can’t use magic or Shotlock.”

He crawled up to Ven’s shoulder. He beamed at 626. “Guess we’re a team now.”

“I’ll still beat you!” Aqua shouted as she took off.

“Hey! No fair!”

This time, they were all out of breath by the time they reached the hallway in front of the launch deck. Aqua stopped them before they could go any further.

“I think that’s the last of the Unversed,” she said.

Ven grinned at her sheepishly. “I lost count of how many I got.”

“Me too, if I’m being honest.”

626 chirped and pointed at Ven. He held out one hand with four fingers and the other with two.

Aqua gaped. “42… You counted all of the Unversed we killed?” 

“That’s amazing!” Ven said. “You really do have the mind of a supercomputer.”

626 beamed and pointed at Aqua. “52?”

He shook his head and held up his second pair of hands. 

“75?”

He nodded.

“Aqua, that’s incredible!”

She blushed. “Thank you.”

626 pointed at himself and then held out three fingers on opposite hands.

“33?”

He nodded and grinned.

“That means we tied, Ven!”

Ven pouted. “I wanted to win.”

“Well, Vanitas is here, right?”

“Yeah. Do you think he’ll make more?”

“I was more hoping he could be our tie breaker,” Aqua said with a smile.

“Yeah! And Terra can get all of the ones that Vanitas makes so he can catch up to us.”

“Terra!” 626 squeaked.

Aqua grinned. “He should be right here. Let’s say hi.”

Aqua was about to open the door when she heard something from behind the door.

“Master Terra.”

Aqua’s heart stopped. She knew that voice, the one that sounded like a blade scraping on rocks.

“Xehanort,” Terra’s voice said.

Ven’s eyes widened.

The Grand Councilwoman hadn’t spotted Vanitas- she had spotted his master. Vanitas hadn’t knocked Terra down randomly. It must have been an order given to separate them.

“Are you feeling alright, Master Terra? You seem… distracted.”

“I have a lot on my mind.”

“Oh? Something Aqua told you, perhaps?”

Aqua’s heart was jackhammering in her chest.

_Does he know?_

Did he figure it out? Or did Vanitas tell him?

Aqua was surprised Terra hadn’t exploded in anger already. She could tell by his voice he was trying to control it, but Xehanort wouldn’t be able to hear that unless he knew him more than she thought he did. 

“Aqua’s told me many things,” Terra said. “I’m waiting for her right now.”

He was letting Xehanort know he was outnumbered.

Should they fight him?

Aqua bit her lip. If she and Ven stepped through that door, there would be no more pretending. They had the advantage in numbers: between her, Terra, Ven, and 626, fighting Xehanort would be almost easy. 

But Xehanort was dramatic. If the final fight wasn’t at the Keyblade Graveyard, he would retreat, and they would lose any element of surprise they might have. Aqua wasn’t confident enough in her ability to stop a retreat.

Their only option was to wait and listen, to see what they could get from Xehanort.

“Master?”

Terra somehow managed to say it without too much of an edge in his voice.

“Yes, my boy?”

Aqua’s grip on Stormfall tightened. 

_He is not yours._

“Why haven’t you talked with Aqua about the darkness? Her heart is as dark as mine. Sometimes I think it’s darker. So why haven’t you been teaching her about the balance?”

Ven looked like he had been smacked.

Oh, that’s right. He never learned about Aqua’s darkness.

He nudged her.

_“What gives?”_ he mouthed.

_“Later.”_

Ven scrunched up his face but turned his attention back to the conversation.

“Aqua has been too corrupted by Eraqus’s propaganda. She fears the darkness and refuses to face it. It’s no wonder that they resent people like us, people who seek balance. Why, Aqua hates me merely for existing.” Damn right she did. “You have a much more open mind. You are much more willing to learn.” Aqua almost growled. “That is why I believe, out of the two of you, you are the one who shows the true Mark of Mastery.”

There was a pause. Aqua could practically feel the tension in the air itself.

“I don’t think that’s fair to Aqua.”

“Do you agree with Eraqus, then? Do you think that darkness should be repressed, that you deserved to fail?”

“She’s stronger than you think she is.”

“I suppose we’ll see, Terra.”

Aqua’s breath caught in her throat.

Xehanort had still tried to corrupt Terra, but there was no way he was deaf to the undercurrents of the conversation. He suspected that Terra knew; there was no way to catch him by surprise now. 

Was Xehanort gone? Was it safe to-

“Boo.”

“AHH!”

Aqua was not proud of the shriek that echoed through the hallway. Ven made a similar sound. Only 626 was unaffected, stepping in front of them and growling. If Xehanort was still in the launch deck, there was no way he wouldn’t know that Aqua and Ven were listening in. But Aqua had more immediate problems.

Vanitas had his Keyblade at her throat.

“You should have seen the look on your faces,” he cackled.

“Aqua!” Ven was already rushing towards Vanitas.

“One more step and I take off her head.”

Ven stopped in his tracks. Vanitas cackled again, but it was cut off by a yelp.

626 had jumped onto his hand and was biting it. Vanitas only lost his concentration for an instant, but it was enough time for Aqua to move her head away from his Keyblade and the rest of her a safe distance away.

Vanitas flung 626 away, and he sailed through the wall and across the launching pad.

“626!” Ven called.

The door crashed open.

“Aqua! Ven!” 

It was Terra. He narrowed his eyes when he saw Vanitas.

Vanitas sighed.

“Unfortunately, the Master considers you his, so I can’t play with you.”

“Terra belongs to no one!” Ven shouted.

He rushed Vanitas, but Vanitas merely sidestepped him and kicked him in the back.

“Ven!”

“You’re embarrassing me. Try to put up a little bit of a fight next ti-”

Vanitas was cut off by Earthshaker wrapping around his body. Terra pulled, and Vanitas lurched towards him.

“You might have been a part of Ven once, but I will not let you touch him!”

Terra’s hair was practically sticking straight up. His teeth were bared, and darkness was coming from him in waves.

Aqua didn’t hesitate. She rushed towards Vanitas and struck him with Stormfall. Ven got up and bashed in his head with Wayward Wind. They retreated and shot a barrage of magic at him. When the elemental debris cleared, Vanitas was gone.

Instinctively, they formed a circle facing outwards, their eyes scanning the room for any hint of darkness.

Aqua looked up and found him. Vanitas was hanging from the ceiling like a giant spider. Her yelp alerted Terra and Ven, who looked up.

“Interesting,” he said. “I can see why he’s having trouble making up his mind.”

“What does that mean?” Ven snarled.

“If you’re too stupid to figure it out, just ask your Master.”

Aqua’s blood ran cold.

_Master Eraqus._

Vanitas slipped into the darkness with a smug chuckle.

The instant he was gone, Terra rushed back through the door to 626. Aqua healed Ven with a Curaga before they followed him.

“Are you okay?” Terra asked.

“Terra!” 626 scrambled to his feet and held up his Wayfinder.

“Did you make this?”

626 nodded.

Terra pat him on the head. “That’s incredible. Do you want to be our friend?”

626 nodded again and scrambled up Terra. Aqua smiled, but she let it fade fast.

“Terra,” she said. “The Master’s in danger.”

The cheer drained from him too. “What? How do you know?”

Ven patted 626 on the head, but his expression was solemn, too. “It’s what Vanitas said, huh.”

Aqua nodded. “He likes giving us hints to what Xehanort is up to.”

Was that him being… playful?

Aqua didn’t give herself time to dwell on it.

“626, we have to say goodbye. Someone important to us is in trouble.”

626’s ears drooped.

“We’ll see you again someday,” Terra said. He pointed at his Wayfinder. “We’re friends now. But until then, try and make more friends, okay?”

626 gave them one last smile before scampering off to an escape pod.

“Bye 626!” Ven called.

“Bye!” They called and waved as his escape pod launched into the deep recesses of space.

Without any further words, they donned their armor and zoomed from the ship and towards their home.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know some of you were really looking forward to Disney town, but I hope you enjoyed this instead


	8. Land of Departure

Chapter 8: The Land of Departure

_ Pleasemakeitpleasemakeitpleasemakeit. _

Aqua was gliding as fast as she could. Even Ven was having trouble keeping up, and Terra was a solid distance away.

If her Master was struck down again, would she go back in time again for him? Aqua didn’t want to think about it. Master Eraqus wasn’t perfect, but he had cared for them for most of their lives. He was their father, and she didn’t want to lose him.

When The Land of Departure came into view, Aqua gasped. A dark cloud of Unversed surrounded the world. There was the sound of an explosion, and a clump of the Unversed were blown into shards of shadow, but more came to take their place.

_ It’s a siege. _

Aqua raced forward, blowing her own hole through the lines and slipping through it into the world. 

The sky had turned black with Unversed and dark magic. Something whizzed past Aqua’s ear as she scanned her surroundings.

“Aqua!”

Master Eraqus was looking over a giant cannon. It didn’t look mounted and he didn’t have Master Keeper on him, so she assumed the cannon was Master Keeper and each shot was the grandmother of all Shotlocks.

“Master!” She ran to him. “Are you hurt?”

“Where are Ventus and Terra?”

She scanned the horizon. “They’ll be here soon. What happened? What’s going on?”

Master Eraqus fired another shot at the horde. “A masked boy tried to attack me. I managed to fend him off, but when I threw him out of the castle, he returned with a horde of Unversed.” Aqua created a barrier against a return shot from the Unversed. “Do you know if that boy is the source of the Unversed?”

“He is. His name is Vanitas. I’m sorry we haven’t defeated him yet.”

“If he is this formidable, I cannot blame you,” Master Eraqus said with a thin smile.

Aqua scanned the sky again. “He must have summoned the Unversed from every world he’s been to.”

Master Eraqus fired another shot. “This Vanitas is smart. This land is critical to keeping the Realm of Light safe. If he wants to spread his darkness, this is a good first attack.”

Aqua sent out her Shotlock. It looked paltry in comparison to Master Eraqus’s cannon.

“Master, I think they’re after you.”

“After me?”

“Yes. Vanitas specifically mentioned you in his taunts. But, Master- Xehanort is Vanitas’s master.” 

At the mention of Xehanort, Eraqus visibly drooped.

“No… it cannot be.”

Aqua’s heart panged. She couldn’t imagine what this kind of betrayal would feel like.

“Do you believe me, Master?”

“I… yes. He always kept himself too close to the darkness, and it corrupted him. He said that he would atone, but…”

Another spell whizzed by Aqua’s ear. She put her hand on her Master’s shoulder and healed him with a Curaga.

“We came back to protect you.”

As if on cue, Ven and Terra entered the world. Ven dove straight at them, while Terra took the time to shoot down some Unversed with his glider. Ven curved away from Aqua and Master Eraqus, landing next to them without kicking up any dust. Aqua was impressed by his control.

“Master!” Ven cried. “We made it!”

“I see you finally decided to return home, Ventus. You seem to have grown stronger in your travels.”

He didn’t sound happy about that.

“Master!” Terra dropped from his glider and ran towards them.

Master Eraqus smiled. “It seems all of my pupils have returned home. I’m happy to see all of you safe and sound.”

Another shot of magic shattered a pillar to their right. Terra flinched.

Aqua grimaced- his noise sensitivity was going to be a problem in a massive battle. At least he could use his Shotlock- his Ultima Cannon made a metallic  _ sheen _ instead of an explosion, as if his Keyblade was being careful around its master.

“Master,” Aqua said, “since there are three of us, we should retreat and form a strategy.”

Master Eraqus stared up at the blanket of Unversed. It looked a little thinner, but it still loomed over them.

“I want to keep an eye on the Unversed. I cannot do that from inside the castle.”

Aqua formed a barrier over all of them. “This should be enough shelter for now.”

Master Eraqus raised an eyebrow. “Can you hold it?”

“I’ve improved a lot since you last saw me.”

Ven squinted at the Unversed. “I don’t get it. Why don’t they just rush in?”

“This castle has many defences against the darkness,” Master Eraqus said. “This is one of them: a barrier around the world to keep darkness at bay. Imagine one of Aqua’s barriers, except at a larger scale.”

A shot exploded around Aqua’s barrier. Ven and Terra flinched.

“It’s not perfect,” Master Eraqus said, “but it is quite effective.”

Aqua looked up at it. Now that he had mentioned it, the barrier stood out against the sea of Unversed. It really did look like a larger version of one of her barriers.

Terra put his hand to his chin. “We have the advantage of knowing the terrain here. We should use that.”

Master Eraqus shook his head. “Xehanort knows this castle even better than I do. He showed me some secrets, but there are dozens more he kept to himself.”

Aqua turned to Ven. “How many secret passages are there?”

“Five.”

“Do you think there are any more you haven’t found yet?”

Ven looked up in thought. “I don’t think the castle could fit any more. Secret rooms or staircases, on the other hand-”

“How many of those can access the main hall?”

“Most of the rooms are just empty panic rooms. I guess someone could use them for an ambush, but they’d be kinda clunky. There’s a staircase that leads from the basement directly from the main hall, and a passage that leads from outside the castle into the basement.”

If she were Xehanort, she’d use that.

“Ven, can you destroy any passages or entrances that could be used to ambush us?”

Ven looked like she had asked him to kill his pet puppy.

“They can be rebuilt one day. This is important.”

Ven nodded.

“And if you run into Vanitas or Xehanort, get out of the castle and let us know right away. If you can’t make it out, use a signal: fire for Vanitas, ice for Xehanort, and lightning for both. Okay?”

“Yup! You can count on me, Aqua.”

She ruffled his hair. “I know.”

He gave her one last smile before running off.

_ You’re sending him straight to Vanitas you’re sending him straight to Xehanort you’re sending him off alone- _

“Are you worried about Ven?” Terra asked.

“Yes.”

“He’ll be okay, Aqua,” Terra said. “Have faith, remember?”

She took a deep breath before turning back to Terra and her Master. “Right. He will be fine.”

Terra turned back to the Unversed. “We still need to get rid of these. Protecting the Master will be a lot harder with explosions over our heads.”

“Regular Shotlocks don’t put a dent in them. The Master has a pretty heavy-duty one, but I don’t know if I can replicate it.”

Terra smiled. “I think I can come close.”

Terra’s Ultima Cannon wasn’t quite as big as Master Eraqus’s, but it was indeed close. The shot broke the line of the Unversed, and for the first time, Aqua could see the sky behind them. Master Eraqus followed up with a couple of shots of his own. Terra grimaced and moved away from Master Eraqus, but continued shooting. There were now too few Unversed to cover a gap in the ranks.

Maybe she could replicate Master Eraqus’s cannon.

“Master,” Aqua said, “How did you form your cannon?”

“I’m sorry, Aqua, but I don’t think your Keyblade will be able to do this. Your fighting style is too… floaty.”

“I’d like to at least try.”

Master Eraqus stared at his Keyblade cannon. “I think of duty. I channel my desire to protect this world as its master, and the world grants me the power to do so.”

Aqua stood behind Master Eraqus and faced towards the castle, away from Master Eraqus. She closed her eyes and summoned Master Keeper, pointing it at the Unversed above the castle.

This was her home. Every window in front of her held a memory she held dear. Aqua had seen what Xehanort had done to it and the castle of oblivion it was forced to become. She never realized she had the chance to save the Land of Departure, too.

Master Keeper grew and shifted until it became a cannon identical to the one in front of Master Eraqus. Aqua smiled and took aim.

  
  


Behind the scope of Master Keeper, time melted away. Aqua developed a rhythm: aim, fire, peek at the castle to make sure Ven wasn’t signalling, and aim again. Soon enough, she began to see gaps on her side of the sky as well.

Movement caught Aqua’s eye. Ven was jogging back from the castle. Aqua dismissed Master Keeper’s cannon.

“How’d it go?”

“Pretty good!” Ven’s smile faded. “Except for all of the cool stuff I had to destroy. But I remembered to add mines to some of them, so if someone tried to use them, they’ll get some damage.”

“Nice thinking,” Terra said. 

“Very good work,” Master Eraqus said.

Ven beamed. He peered up at the crowd of Unversed.

“Wow! You guys really took care of ‘em.”

There was a murmur among the Unversed. They began to flutter and disperse, moving around the dome in a panicked frenzy.

“You just had to say something, Ven,” Terra said.

“Hey! This isn’t my fault!”

The next thing Aqua noticed was a scratching sound, like nails skidding across a smooth surface. They all desperately scanned the barrier, but they couldn’t see anything-

Then there was a scream so loud it was almost a roar.

The hair on the back of Aqua’s neck stood up. Terra covered his ears with a wince and Ven grimaced. Even Master Eraqus flinched. It was louder and a little deeper, but Aqua immediately recognized Vanitas’s roar of pain. They had been destroying Unversed for such a long time, and if Vanitas felt every one, all of the pain would build up until-

_ BOOM _

A red and black mass crashed against the barrier. Aqua could see it crack under the weight. It was a dragon, long and scaled like a snake. It had no wings, but its giant claws glinted in the low light as they dug into the barrier. A tangled mane was splattered with dark red, as if it were matted with dried blood.

It roared again, and Terra cringed.

“Aqua, I-”

“I’ll take point for this one,” she said. 

The relief on his face was clear. “Thank you. I’ll support you and Ven however I can.”

Aqua nodded. 

“Master,” Terra said, “would it be possible to let the dragon in? If it keeps ramming into the barrier like this, it might break.”

“I was just about to do that,” Master Eraqus said. “Are you ready?”   


They nodded.

The dragon moved back to body slam the barrier again, but it collided with nothing. It flew at them and landed in front of them with a roar.

Terra winced and moved back. Aqua looked up at it. It was bigger than Maleficent’s dragon form, taking up almost the entire courtyard. Its claws and teeth were sharp, and its body kept whipping back and forth.

“Keep it occupied, Ven!” she called. “I’ll try and find a weak point.”

The dragon traced the sound of her voice and snapped a glowing red eye in her direction. Aqua leapt out of the way and tried to get behind its head. It followed her until Wayward Wind smacked it in its other eye and returned to Ven’s hand.

“Over here!” he shouted.

Ven leapt back just in time to avoid the snout snapping at him. Aqua forced herself to focus on the rest of the dragon. A few hits from Stormfall confirmed that its scales were solid; she wouldn’t be able to pull the same trick she did with Maleficent. It kept writhing too fast for her to be able to hold on anyway.

A flash of light caught Aqua’s eye. She had forgotten about Master Eraqus. Chains of light shot from Master Keeper and wrapped around the dragon’s snout. It flailed around in an effort to pull free, and Aqua had to focus most of her attention to not being hit by its body.

She danced back to the head. Ven was focusing all of his attacks on the dragon’s eye now that its mouth had been muzzled. It still swiped at them with its claws, but Ven had gotten out of range.

Aqua shot the eye on her side with a Thundaga. Terra followed suit with his Ultima Cannon. It tried to roar, but it still couldn’t open its mouth. Finally, it stuck its muzzle on the ground and yanked off its chains.

Then it roared. Aqua grimaced; her ears weren’t sensitive like Terra, but it wasn’t a pleasant sound. The next time Master Eraqus shot chains at its mouth, it knocked them away with its claws.

Master Eraqus gritted his teeth and sent out two chains, one wrapping around a foot, one wrapping around the snout. Aqua took the opportunity to pound its eye with spells, but it closed a scaly eyelid, and she could tell they weren’t as effective.

With only one foot to scrape the chains off, the dragon was struggling. In a change of tactics, it planted its good foot and reared its head up. Master Eraqus stumbled, but did not release the chains. Terra sent another round of shots at the dragon.

Aqua spotted something under its chin: a pearl, pulsing with red light. When a shot from Terra’s Ultima Cannon hit it, it screeched.

“Ven! Aim for the pearl!”

“Got it!”

He threw Wayward Wind and Aqua fired a Blizzaga, but before they could do anything else, the dragon broke the chains with a strike of its other claw.

“Aqua! Ventus! Keep its arms occupied so I can restrain it again!”

“Yes, Master!”

Aqua ran at the dragon’s claw, shooting spells at it with abandon. The dragon swiped at her, but she jumped away a second too late. Its claws tore into her leg, and she yelped.

“Aqua!” Terra shouted.

“I’m okay!”

She sighed in relief at Terra’s healing spell anyway. It wasn’t as potent as one of her own, but it did more than enough. 

Luckily, her charge had given Master Eraqus the opportunity to send out three chains, disabling both of its claws and muzzling it. Aqua wasted no time, activating Spellweaver and slamming the pearl with magic.

The dragon could do nothing but whimper as she tore through it. Stormfall felt more like an extension of herself than even Rainfell had been. By the time she had finished, the dragon looked drained of energy, but it still had a bit of fight left…

“Terra! Now!”

Together, all three of them slashed through the pearl. The dragon tried to roar again, but its muzzle was too tight, and it began to fade into shadow.

Aqua approached it as it faded. Ven and Terra exchanged a glance. If this was made of Vanitas’s pain, how would it feel returning to him? The dragon tried to snap at her, but it was too weak. She stroked its mane as it dissolved into darkness. Perhaps it was a vain hope, but maybe Vanitas would feel a small comfort among the pain.

The dragon narrowed its glowing red eye.

_ “Don’t pity me,” _ it seemed to say.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Aqua murmured as the last of the dragon faded away. As if the death of the dragon had sent a signal, the rest of the Unversed melted away from the barrier around the world, returning to the ones where they came.

When she looked up, Ven and Terra looked confused. Master Eraqus looked horrified.

Ah, right. They still needed to talk.

“Aqua, were you communing with a creature of darkness?” Master Eraqus asked.

“The Unversed are made from Vanitas’s pain,” Aqua said. “He can feel when the Unversed are defeated, too. I think that one was made from the pain of all of the Unversed we defeated returning to him.”

Master Eraqus’s tone was admonishing. Ven and Terra immediately straightened. Aqua found herself doing the same thing. “The very first thing I taught you was to never pity creatures of the darkness! To do so is to step too close to it.”

“I’m not underestimating Vanitas or going easy on him. Besides, what is light if not compassion?” Master Eraqus opened his mouth like he wanted to argue, but Aqua cut him off. “We can fight about this later. If Xehanort is going to strike, he’ll do it now. Are you hurt, Master?”

“I am uninjured. But how do you-”

“Am I wrong?”

Master Eraqus sighed. “No. We are worn out and the dragon made for an excellent distraction. Xehanort, if he is the one behind this, would certainly expect us to be celebrating after a victory such as this one.”

Ven scanned their surroundings. “How long do we have to be on guard? I don’t see him or Vanitas. And I didn’t see any signs of him in the castle.”

Ven had a point- they couldn’t be on guard forever.

“Do you think we can at least go inside?” Terra asked.

“I don’t know,” Aqua said. “If we’re inside, it might be harder for them to attack. What do you think, Master?”

“The inside of the castle is even better fortified than the outside. Now that the monsters are gone, it should be safe.”

And so they went inside. Ven lead the way to make sure they didn’t step on any of the mines he set. Aqua was in front of Master Eraqus, and Terra brought up the rear, making sure no one followed them inside. Aqua felt her master’s eyes on her back the entire way.

  
  


They kept moving until they were in the training hall. Master Eraqus raised Master Keeper to lock the door behind them.

“There,” Master Eraqus said. “Now we can talk without being disturbed.”

Aqua sat down in a proper sitting position. Terra and Ven, not knowing what else to do, took the same positions on either side of her. Master Eraqus sat in front of her. If this were any other day, this could be discussion after training or a lecture on theory. Ven would fidget with his zipper and Aqua’s legs would fall asleep. Now, Ven was fidgeting with his Keyblade, and no part of Aqua was threatening to sleep.

“You’ve changed, Aqua.” Master Eraqus said. “You’ve become impudent. You’re disobeying the core lessons I have been teaching you for a decade. The darkness has taken hold of you. You have admitted it.” To Aqua’s horror, his voice broke. “Why- how- where did I go wrong? Why did this happen again?” 

A tear ran down his scarred face. Aqua covered her mouth.

She had been expecting anger, rage, even, to the point where she was worried she would have to fight him. But, somehow, seeing her master’s sorrow was worse. 

“I-I’m sorry, Master. I didn’t want this, I-” Aqua’s voice broke, and she found herself fighting back tears of her own. 

“What happened, child? Why did you let the darkness in?”

“I-I’m sorry, it’s just- I was in the Realm of Darkness for so long-” her voice twisted, “I’m surprised there’s any light left in my heart.”

“The Realm of Darkness?” Terra cried. “What happened?”

“You aren’t making any sense,” Master Eraqus said. “You’ve only been gone a short while. Did you find yourself in the Realm of Darkness?” 

“No, Master. Not this time.”

“This time?” Master Eraqus’s eyes narrowed with confusion, then widened with fear. 

“Master?” Aqua prompted.

“Did you travel through time, Aqua? To prevent a calamity?”

Aqua relaxed a bit. “Yes. I’m from the future.” 

To further illustrate her point, she extended her hand and summoned Master Keeper. Eraqus followed suit, and Master Keeper appeared in his hand, but the Keyblade did not move in Aqua’s. 

Master Eraqus dropped the Keyblade and cradled his head in his hands. “My child, I am so sorry. Whatever you are trying to stop is destined to happen.”

Aqua’s heart caught in her throat. “What?”

“There is a reason time travel is not taught to Keyblade wielders. The rules- do you know them?”

“Yes. There’s a book on it in the library. I read it the night before the exam, and I’ve followed all of the rules- I had to leave behind my body, I had to go to a point in time where a version of me existed, and if I ever return to the future, I’ll forget this happened.”

Master Eraqus’s voice dropped to just above a murmur. “There are four rules to time travel. The fourth rule is that destiny cannot be altered. Any knowledge of the future will be forgotten, and the past cannot be overwritten.”

“But-” Aqua’s head was spinning. “No. It can’t be.”

She should have known.

She should have known that it was too good to be true. She should have known that there was a price to pay. There always was.

“NO!”

She didn’t know whether to scream or cry or laugh.

Was this it? Was this where her heart would give into despair? 

“Aqua?”

She looked up. Ven looked so scared. 

Was it all for nothing?

He exhaled, then looked back up at her with a smile.

“Sorry, Aqua. I got so busy asking for you to put your faith in me that I forgot to put faith in you!”

_ You’re awful, Aqua. _

Terra put his hand on her shoulder. “That’s right. We believe in you, Aqua. Everything is going to be okay.”

_ I’m on my own now, alright? _

Aqua had already changed so much. Terra was a Master who didn’t trust Xehanort. Ven knew she believed in him, even if she got anxious sometimes. And Master Eraqus was alive and in front of them.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

“Master, what you’re saying doesn’t make sense. Nothing is like it was last time. Maybe destiny does exist, but if it does, it just means I was destined to go back and make this right.”

He didn’t look convinced. “I don’t think-”

“Terra is a Master now. By your logic, Terra was destined to never become a Master, but he is now. I changed that. And I still haven’t met Mickey.”

“Do you mean King Mickey, Yen Sid’s former pupil?” Eraqus asked.

“Yes. We became friends in the last timeline, but I have yet to see him, even where we first met.”

Silence hung in the air. Finally, Master Eraqus looked away.

“I hope with all of my heart that you are correct,” he said. “Time travel is a difficult thing to study by its very nature. It is possible that you have already done what no one has done before.”

Aqua smiled. 

“But what happened? What could have been so horrible that you cast aside your body to fix it?”

Aqua’s expression darkened. “It was Xehanort. He took control of Terra’s body. And Ven-” She paused for a moment. If she explained this wrong, they would have to fight Master Eraqus to prevent him from destroying Ven. “Ven destroyed his own heart to destroy the ꭓ-blade.”

Master Eraqus looked at Ven. “You-“

Stormfall came to Aqua in a flash. Terra summoned Earthshaker. 

“Don’t,” Aqua growled. “Xehanort knew you would try and destroy Ven to stop him, and he used that to trick Terra into striking you down.”

Terra grimaced and looked away. 

“Don’t worry, Master,” Ven said. “I’ll do it again if I have to.”

“We’ll make sure he doesn’t have to,” Terra said. 

“It is imperative that the ꭓ-blade is never created,” Master Eraqus said. “Xehanort wishes to use it to recreate the world through a second Keyblade War.”

“No!”

Aqua’s head snapped to the voice.

It was Ven, of all people. 

“He- he wants to create another Keyblade War?”

“I am afraid so.”

“Master,” Terra asked, “what is the Keyblade War?”

“Surely you have heard the legend of how the worlds were created- how people fought over the light, leading darkness to swallow the world until it was rebuilt from the light in the hearts of children. That was the Keyblade War.”

“Xehanort said people fought in order to create the ꭓ-blade,” Aqua said.

“The exact causes of the Keyblade War are unknown,” Master Eraqus said. “After all, there were few alleged survivors, and none are alive today. Xehanort theorizes that the war was fought over the ꭓ-blade, but many scholars disagree. It is not a subject we are encouraged to explore. To even know about the ꭓ-blade is forbidden to most.”

“There can’t be another Keyblade War!” Ven looked at them in wild desperation. “There can’t!”

Ven was so young. He was her little brother who climbed trees and made trouble and gobbled up sweets and loved the attention she gave him even when he pretended not to. But, in that moment, his eyes looked old- older than Aqua or Master Eraqus

or the worlds themselves.

“It’s okay, Ven,” Terra said. “There won’t be.”

Ven turned his frantic gaze to Master Eraqus. “Master, you have to-”

“Ventus,” Aqua hissed. She grabbed his collar and bore into his eyes with her own. “I did not wander the Realm of Darkness for ten years and travel through time just to have you destroy yourself again!”

Her voice echoed through the hall.

Ven tilted his chin up defiantly. “But I love you,” he said, “and I would do anything to protect you.”

Aqua dropped his collar. Tears were slipping down his face silently.

“Oh, Ven,” she murmured. She wiped his tears away. “That’s my line, silly.”

Tears dripped from her face too, as if she hadn’t cried enough already. Terra moved to them and put his arms around them. 

“The three of us can never be torn apart, all right? It’s going to be okay.” 

Master Eraqus watched the scene with sad, old eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “You are carrying the burden of my mistakes. I did too little when I saw Xehanort’s heart darken, and now I see the darkness in you, my eldest pupils.”

“I can’t promise that I won’t fall into darkness,” Terra said. “But I won’t become Xehanort. What I do, I do for friendship. I will never turn my back on my friends.” His voice was hard with resolve.

Aqua gripped her Wayfinder. “I don’t know what will happen this time, but the three of us have an unbreakable connection. Not even time can keep up apart.”

A small smile flickered onto Master Eraqus’s face. “You two speak like true Masters. Xehanort fell because he dismissed the connections in his heart in his effort to shape the world in his image. When a child is chosen to inherit a Keyblade, there is nothing said about darkness or light-  _ no more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love _ . Your hearts are strong, and I have only seen you use that strength to champion those you love. As long as you remain together, I will choose to have faith that none of you will fall into darkness.”

“Thank you, Master,” Terra said quietly. He was looking down.

“You are welcome, Master Terra.”

Terra’s head whipped up. 

Master Eraqus’s smile widened a bit. “Aqua was right. You have trained hard, and your heart is good. Please, carry the title with honor.”

Terra’s voice cracked with emotion. “I-I will. I promise.”

“Master Aqua.”

Aqua straightened.

“Your teamwork and prowess in battle today was nothing short of extraordinary. Even with darkness in your heart, you are one of the most gifted Masters I have ever seen. I am proud to call both of you my students.”

Aqua didn’t even know what to say. She had been training under Master Eraqus for most of her life, but she had never received such high praise.

Master Eraqus smiled and turned to Ven. “As you might have suspected, I did keep you locked away in case Xehanort was planning on using your strength. For that, I am sorry. You have grown admirably, Ventus. In your travels, you have learned faster than any student I have ever seen. I am proud of you as well. You are well on your way to receiving the Mark of Mastery yourself.”

Ven just sat there in stunned silence. 

“Master,” Aqua finally said, the tears closing up her throat, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry my heart isn’t as bright as it used to be. I’m sorry for making you worry-“

Master Eraqus held open his arms and Aqua flung herself into them with a sob. 

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she sobbed. “I’m so happy I got to you in time. I missed you.”

“Shh.” He stroked her head like he had when she was a child waking from a nightmare. “My Keyblade… I left you with such a terrible burden. Forgive me.”

She had forgiven him the second she saw him that morning, feeding them before their test. Or maybe she had never been angry to begin with.

Aqua didn’t know how long she cried into his arms, but at some point, Ven and Terra joined her. They could have sat there for minutes or hours, but Aqua didn’t care, because her entire family was together.

  
  


That night, Aqua burrowed in her bed, relishing the feeling of the soft covers and the fluffy pillow under her head. She didn’t think she’d be back in her own room ever again, let alone so soon after last time.

It was hard to imagine a future after they defeated Xehanort. Her entire life had narrowed into protecting her friends from their fate. She had forgotten that there could be a future after Xehanort. They could travel the world just like they had, protecting people and making new friends. Maybe they could even find another world where they could just look at the sky and watch for shooting stars.

Aqua was a Master now, but she never had the time to process what that really meant. According to Master Eraqus, they were equals now. That meant she and Terra could teach other Keyblade wielders and make them Masters. They could technically teach Ven now.

They could teach Vanitas, if he ever escaped Xehanort’s influence. He didn’t need any combat training, but she doubted that he knew any technical knowledge or history.

They could train a new generation of Keyblade Wielders, like Kairi and the boys from the Destiny Islands.

An entire future stretched out in front of Aqua, bright as the Realm of Light itself. She smiled.

There was a soft knock on the door.

“Aqua? Are you awake?”

“Yes. You can come in.”

Terra opened the door and sat on her bed.

“You’re actually in pajamas this time.”

“Are you going to cast Sleep on me this time too?”

Terra smiled. “Only if you won’t sleep. Having trouble?”

“Only a little. Terra- we’re Masters now!”

“Yeah. I still can’t believe it,” he said.

“I’ve been thinking about it,” Aqua said. “We can teach people now. It feels like we can do anything we want now.”

“And leave Ven behind with the Master?”

“You know,” she said with a smile, “he doesn’t even have to be ‘the Master’ or even ‘Master Eraqus’ anymore. He can be just… Eraqus.” Aqua made a face the second the name came from her lips. “Never mind. He’ll always be the Master to me.”

Terra laughed. “It’s been too long since I’ve seen you smile like this.”

“Why shouldn’t I? We’re Masters! Our dream came true!”

Finally, it seemed like Aqua’s excitement spread to Terra. His smile widened. 

“Are we still leaving Ven behind with the Master?”

“Never!” Aqua giggled. “We can teach him. We’ve always helped him before, so it wouldn’t be that different.”

“Okay,” Terra said, “once Ven’s a Master, what will we do?”

“We can go visit every world and help people, like we’ve always dreamed of. We can go dancing again, or watch shooting stars, or-”

“Find you a nice girl?”

Aqua nudged him. “Terra! We can visit the boys from the Destiny Islands.”

“Boys? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Aqua smiled sheepishly. “I guess we haven’t been there yet, huh? We can visit them as soon as possible.”

“Take a side trip while searching for Vanitas?”

His name shattered Aqua’s giddy dreaming. Reality crashed back in. The future felt uncertain again, like a hazy sky instead of a bright sunrise. 

Terra’s smile faded. “Did I say something wrong? You’re not smiling anymore.”

“Terra, I want to save Vanitas.”

“Vanitas? Is this why you let him go in Radiant Garden?”

“Yes. Xehanort has hurt him as much as he’s hurt us.”

He frowned. “He’s trying to hurt Ven. I can’t forgive that.”

“But he was Ven once.”

“Maybe. But he’s just darkness now,” Terra said. “I don’t know if we can save him.”

“I still want to try.”

“Aqua-” Terra stopped himself with a shake of his head. “If anyone can save him, it’s you. You’ve done so much already.”

Aqua leaned her head on his shoulder. “You have that much faith in me?”

“I don’t think it would be fair if I didn’t have as much faith in you as you have in me.”

Aqua hummed. Suddenly, she was hit with exhaustion. She yawned and leaned more of her weight on Terra.

“I guess I don’t have to cast Sleep on you tonight.”

“Mmph.”

“Go to bed, Aqua.”

“Okay.” She crawled under her covers. They were cozy, like a little burrow. “Night, Terra.”

He smoothed her hair down. “Night, Aqua.” There was a pause. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

The last thing she heard before falling asleep was Terra’s solid footsteps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the word "master" as a proper noun is the bane of my existence


	9. The Destiny Islands

Chapter 9: The Destiny Islands

The Destiny Islands were just as beautiful as the last time Aqua had visited them. The sun was warm overhead, but not too hot, the sound of the waves lulled in the background, and the soft, white sand seemed to glow with a peaceful light. 

Aqua immediately took off her shoes and leggings to dig her toes into the warm sand.

“Wow! This place is awesome!” Ven shouted as he kicked off his shoes. 

Terra pointed to the paopu fruit tree. “This is the tree you mentioned. The one with the star-shaped fruit.”

Aqua smiled. “Yes. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

Ven scrambled up the tree to grab a fruit. “We should try one,” he called from the top.

“That’s a great idea!”

Ven took a couple of seconds to select a fruit, then grabbed one and held it in his mouth as he descended from the tree.

Terra scrunched up his face. “You didn’t have to carry it in your mouth, Ven.”

“How else was I supposed to bring it down? I have to use both hands to climb,” he said as he handed the fruit to Aqua.

“You could have thrown it down,” Aqua said. “I could have caught it.”

Ven grinned and tucked his hands behind his head. “Too late now. Guess I’ll just have the part my mouth was on.”

Aqua took the fruit and held it up to the light. “How are we supposed to eat this?”

“I guess there’s only one way to find out,” Ven said. Without even taking it from her hand, he took a bite. 

“How is it?”

Ven made a face. “It doesn’t taste like anything, really.”

Aqua took a bite into the fruit. There was a thin rind surrounding the main flesh, which was less juicy than she was expecting. The flavor was very mild, with only the barest hint of sweetness dancing on her tongue.

She handed the fruit to Terra, who took a large bite.

“I like it,” he said when he was finished chewing. “If all fruit tasted like this, I’d eat more of it.”

Aqua turned at the patter of footsteps.

“Riiiiiiiiiiku!” Sora called. “You can’t hide from me forever!”

Sora’s eyes widened and he ran towards the three. When he stood in front of them, he was practically bursting with excitement.

“Are you two getting married?”

“What?” Terra blinked.

Aqua knelt down to his eye level. “Why do you think we’re getting married?”

“Cuz you’re splitting the paopu fruit! Once, I was at a wedding, and it was really boring, but then they split a paopu fruit, and that was really cool!”

Aqua turned to Ven to make a joke, but Ven wasn’t paying attention at all. He stared at Sora intently, like he was trying to remember something.

Terra chuckled. “You look just like this kid, Ven.”

“Yeah,” he muttered.

“We’re not getting married, Sor-” Aqua cut herself off. “What’s your name, sweetie?”.

“I’m Sora!”

“Nice to meet you, Sora. My name is Aqua.”

Terra knelt to his eye level as well. “I’m Terra.”

Aqua waited for Ven to introduce himself, but he was still staring.

“That’s our friend Ven,” she finally said. “He’s the one who suggested that we split the… what did you call it?”

“The paopu fruit! If you share it with someone, you can be with them forever! At least, that’s what Riku says.”

“And who’s Riku?” Terra asked.

Sora beamed. “He’s my best friend! Once I find him, I’ll introduce you!”

Terra smiled. 

“Are you playing hide-and-seek?” Aqua asked.

Sora nodded. “Riku’s really good. I gotta find him!”

“We’ll let you know if we see him,” Terra said.

Sora grinned. “Thanks!”

He ran off.

“I knew that kid,” Ven muttered. “I know I did.”

Aqua frowned. Sora couldn’t be older than four years old, and Ven had never been to the Destiny Islands in the four years he was training with them, so how could he possibly know Sora? At the same time, there was something about him that looked familiar other than his striking resemblance to Ven.

“Do you want to find him again?” Terra asked.

“We can spend the day playing with Sora and Riku. Maybe something will jog your memory.”

Ven finally nodded, but he didn’t look too hopeful

Terra stood up. “C’mon, we can play our own game of hide-and-seek. Whoever finds Sora first wins.”

“I hope he isn’t as good at hiding as Ven is.”

That got a small smile out of him. 

The three of them split up in their search. Ven headed towards the tree-filled part of the island, Terra started searching one of the huts, and Aqua stayed at the footbridge to the platform with the paopu tree. If they had run under here in the last timeline, maybe they would run under it again.

Aqua let herself relax as she waited. The sunshine was warm, and the waves were so soothing she could almost fall-

Aqua jerked awake from the sound of a Keyblade being summoned. Were there Unversed?

On the edge of the beach, Terra was kneeling in front of Riku, handing him Earthshaker handle-first. Aqua relaxed. He was giving him the power of the Keyblade, just like in the first timeline. After the ceremony finished, Terra stood up and walked towards Aqua. Riku trotted beside him.

Aqua jumped from the bridge as they approached.

“Are you from another world, too?” Riku asked.

Aqua looked at Terra. “You’re not supposed to know about that,” she said.

“He already knew,” Terra said.

Riku frowned. It was funny seeing him next to Terra. They weren’t identical like Ven and Sora, but they both had the same burning sincerity. 

“How come I’m not supposed to know?”

This was the real test of Aqua’s mastery: could she explain the World Order to a child? She crouched down in front of Riku and met his eyes. Unlike Terra, he didn’t look away.

“People can do bad things if they know about other worlds,” Aqua said. “The reason there are borders around each world is to make sure that darkness doesn’t spread through all of them if one falls.”

“But plenty of people here know about other worlds. That kid, he left and didn’t come back. Where else would he go?”

Aqua had an idea- the world was surrounded by a watery grave. She didn’t remember much of her life before training with Master Eraqus, but deep in her heart, there was an equal respect and fear of the ocean’s power ingrained in her since birth. The idea of other worlds would be easier for a young child to swallow before they could fully comprehend everything the ocean was.

“Maybe you’re right,” she said. She looked back at Terra. “Did you guys find Sora yet?”

Terra smiled. “He hasn’t found us yet!”

“Maybe the reason he hasn’t found you is because you’ve been cheating!” Aqua poked Riku in the stomach with a smile. “Aren’t you supposed to stay in one place for hide-and-seek?”

Riku didn’t say anything.

“Well, go and find a new hiding place. I won’t tell Ven and Sora where you guys went if you promise to stay there.” Aqua held out her pinky.

Riku took it with a solemn nod. She watched with a smile as they jogged away, eagerly discussing potential hiding places.

_Good luck hiding with that lug, Riku._

Aqua looked around. She might as well check on how Ven and Sora were faring.

  


Aqua heard Ven and Sora before she saw them. 

“It’s like Riku always wins, and I never do.”

Ven’s voice was gentle. “I know how you feel. My friends are so much better than me. It feels like no matter how hard I try, I’ll never catch up. But do you know what Terra taught me?”

There was a pause, like Sora was shaking his head. 

“Do you see all those knicks and dents in your sword? That’s proof that you’re learning.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. As long as you keep working, you’ll keep improving, until one day, when it really matters, you’ll be able to beat Riku.”

“You think so?”

“I know it.”

Aqua smiled. Maybe Sora would be Ven’s apprentice once he became a Master. 

She finally spotted them. They were sitting next to each other under the shade of a tree. Sora balanced a small wooden sword on his lap. Terra’s wooden Keyblade was sitting next to Ven. 

That’s right, Vanitas never had the chance to break it this time.

“Hey Sora! Did you find Riku yet?”

He shook his head sadly. “I’ve looked everywhere, but I can’t find him.”

She knelt down to pat him on the head. “It’s not your fault. He moved spots! Terra’s hiding with him.”

Ven raised his eyebrows. “Terra? Does Riku want to lose?”

“It’s his punishment for leaving his spot,” she said.

She couldn’t blame them for it- the Keyblade inheritance was more important than a game. Besides, it was probably more fun this way.

Ven got up and held his hand out to Sora. “We can find them together.”

Sora nodded with a bright smile and took his hand. Together, they set down the path. Sora was chattering about the best hiding places on the island. A gentle breeze floated through the trees, carrying the faint scent of the sea. Sora led Aqua and Ven through the shade of giant trees, across wooden platforms that seemed to wrap around the entire island, and down a sandy path deeper into the forest.

“Riiiiku!” Sora called. “Come out, come out wherever you are!”

There was a rustling in the leaves above them. Aqua looked up, thinking she would see a tropical bird, but instead, she found Terra wrapped around a tree branch like a clingy monkey. Riku was in the next tree over, crouching on top of a smaller branch.

“You’ll never take us alive!” Riku shouted as he dove at Sora. Sora shrieked and jumped back, causing Riku to miss him. Riku just rolled to absorb the impact of the fall and jump at Sora anyway. They fell into a small pile of flailing limbs and laughter.

A yelp from Ven shifted Aqua’s attention from Riku and Sora to Terra. He too had leapt from the tree, but he made contact with Ven, and the two were engaged in a wrestling match. Terra was trying to pin Ven down and get his arm into a submission, but Ven was too fast and slippery. He wiggled out from under Terra and wrapped him up with his legs.

“Go Ven!” Aqua cheered. “Get ‘im in a clock choke!”

“I can’t, Aqua! His shirt is too tight for me to get a good grip!”

“Yours isn't,” Terra said as he reached for the collar of Ven’s outer shirt.

“You’re gonna rip my shirt!”

“Trap his arm!” Aqua called.

Sora and Riku popped up from their wrestling match to watch Ven and Terra’s.

Ven changed tactics, throwing a leg over the back of Terra’s neck.

“Oh no you don’t!”

Terra stood up, and Ven yelped as he began to rise into the air. He grabbed onto Terra’s neck and flung himself behind Terra. His skinny arm reached out to wrap around Terra’s neck, but before he could finish the choke, Terra flipped Ven back onto the ground. It was a gentle flip and Ven fell correctly, but Terra had kept his grip on an arm and was prying it against his knee in an arm bar. Ven’s arm was bending past where Aqua’s ever could, but he wasn’t budging. Terra, however, only had to bend Ven’s arm a little farther across his knee to get him to finally tap out in defeat.

Terra let go automatically before offering a hand up for Ven. “Good job.”

Ven looked like he was considering going for an arm lock of his own, but decided against it and took Terra’s hand.

Now that the bout was over, Aqua’s attention shifted back to Riku and Sora. Their eyes were shining, and Riku’s mouth was slightly open with shock. After another moment of silence, the boys exploded into excited shouts.

“That was so cool!”

“How did you do that?”

“Can we do that?”

“Yeah! Can you teach us?”

Aqua wanted to. She wanted to teach them how to escape an arm submission, how to stand in combat, how to effortly dodge a blow, how to hold a Keyblade properly… but she couldn’t. Not yet. Not until Xehanort was gone for good.

“I’ll teach you one thing,” she said. “And we should do it on the beach, where the ground is softer.”

Riku and Sora practically dragged them back to the shoreline. They sat down and looked at her with wide, attentive eyes.

“You guys were watching Ven and Terra fight, right?”

“Yeah! It was awesome!” Sora shouted.

“Do you remember how it ended?”

“Terra flipped Ven,” Riku said. His voice was very matter-of-fact. “Then he wrenched his arm.”

“Do you know what Ven did?”

“Um, struggle?” 

In the corner of her eye, Aqua saw Ven pout and kick the sand. 

“No, he tapped out. Do you guys know what that is?”

They shook their heads.

“It’s what you do when you’re hurting,” Terra said. “If a fight gets too rough, or a hold gets too tight, or if you’re in danger at all, you tap out. Like this.” Terra tapped the sand.

Riku copied Terra, and Sora copied Riku. Sora was a bit enthusiastic, and a bit of sand kicked up into his face. Riku laughed as he shook it off.

“Here, why don’t you practice? Like this.” Aqua grabbed Terra’s arm. “Terra will pretend that his arm hurts too much, and-”

Terra tapped Aqua’s arm, and she let go automatically.

“Like that,” she said. “Now you two practice.”

Sora grabbed Riku’s arm, and Riku tapped Sora’s arm exactly like Aqua did. When Riku grabbed Sora’s arm, Sora started slapping Riku’s arm.

“Ow!”

“Maybe not that hard, Sora,” Ven said. 

The boys practiced grabbing each other and tapping.

“Very good,” Aqua said. “The next time someone gets too rough when you’re playing, use this. If someone else taps on you, let go immediately, alright? Otherwise, someone could get hurt.” 

They nodded.

“Now then, what other games do you boys play?”

  


They played with Riku and Sora until the sun was low in the sky. 

Riku watched the sun with a melancholy expression. “I think we might have to go home soon.”

Sora frowned. “Aw, do we have to? I don’t hear my dad calling yet.”

“But he will soon.”

“Come on, one more game?”

Riku shook his head. “I don’t wanna get in trouble.”

“I don’t wanna go!”

Ven kneeled down and looked Sora in the eyes. “It’s okay, Sora. We’re friends now, right? That means our hearts will always be connected. Even if we have to say goodbye now, we’ll be in each other’s hearts forever. Okay?” 

Sora nodded. There were tears in his eyes, but he let Riku take him by the hand and lead him away.

Aqua watched them until they were out of sight.

“We should go back home,” she said. “It’s getting late.”

Silently, the three of them brushed the sand off their clothes and put their shoes back on. 

Aqua was about to summon her armor when she heard Sora scream.

They raced towards the sound. As they got closer, Aqua began to hear laughter. Familiar, hysterical laughter.

_Oh no._

Vanitas was holding Sora off the ground by the front of his shirt, cackling. Riku was crumpled on the ground nearby. Terra raced to Riku, healing him before he even got close, while Aqua and Ven summoned their Keyblades.

“Let him go!” Aqua shouted.

“Look, Venty, I found our little brother!”

Vanitas’s mask was off. Aside from the vicious grin he wore and the color of his eyes and hair, he was an exact copy of an older version of Sora.

“Leave Sora out of this!” Ven shouted. “He has nothing to do with us.”

Vanitas rolled his eyes. “Are you really stupid enough to believe that? My face didn’t always look like this, you know.”

Ven paused, then looked at Sora with wide eyes. “You were my second chance?”

“So he’s the little brat who healed your heart. No wonder it took you this long to get strong enough to face me.”

Sora stopped struggling. “Are you really my big brother?”

The question visibly stunned Vanitas. He looked at Sora, and Aqua could see the shock and confusion on his face.

“What?”

“He asked if you’re really his big brother,” Ven said.

“I know what he said,” Vanitas spat. “I’m not stupid.”

“That’s news,” Ven retorted.

Vanitas dropped Sora to turn to Ven. Aqua caught him before he could hit the ground, but Vanitas didn’t seem to care.

“You’re the last person who gets to call me stupid, stupid,” Vanitas said.

“Come up with that one yourself?”

Aqua ran to Terra. “Give me Riku. I’ll get them away.”

Terra handed him over without another word. He was asleep; Terra must have cast Sleep on him to make sure he wouldn’t do anything reckless.

“I’m suprised your thoughts can move away from your stupid _friends_.” Vanitas said the last word in a mocking tilt.

“At least I have some!”

Once Aqua was a fair distance away, she put them down on the soft sand. Riku was still asleep, so she couldn’t tell him to take Sora away, and she didn’t want to take her eyes of Vanitas.

“Aqua?”

She looked down. Sora’s face was streaked with dried tears, but he didn’t look afraid anymore.

“Are you okay, sweetie?”

Sora looked back at Vanitas. “Why is Vanitas so mean?”

Aqua sighed and stroked his hair. “He was hurt a long time ago, and he’s been getting hurt again and again for a long time. I don’t think he knows how to act without hurting other people.”

“Is it because his heart is broken?”

“What?”

“I felt it… there’s a hole in his heart. Is that what’s hurting him?”

“Maybe.”

Maybe that’s why he was making the Unversed.

Aqua looked back at Vanitas. He and Ven were still yelling at each other, but neither of them had drawn their Keyblades. Terra had summoned his Keyblade (it was larger than Earthshaker- had it evolved after he talked to Riku?), but he was just watching them.

“I can help him,” Sora said. 

Aqua whipped her eyes back to Sora. He gazed at Vanitas with a determination Aqua had never thought a child would be capable of.

_In the dark does a child lay. Saving him will save the day._

Sora was an innocent child. Aqua knew she should grab him and run until he was in the arms of his father and far, far away from Xehanort’s demon.

_Saving him will save the day._

She knew she shouldn’t let Sora get anywhere near Vanitas.

_Saving him will save the day._

“Are you sure?” she asked.

_Saving him will save the day._

Sora nodded and wriggled out of Aqua’s arms.

_Saving him will save the day._

Aqua grasped Stormfall in a death grip, ready to summon a barrier at a moment’s notice.

_Saving him will save the day._

Without pausing or looking back, Sora trotted towards Vanitas.

_Saving him will save the day._

_Am I right about this?_

Would she go back in time for Sora?

_I don’t want to make that choice._

Riku stirred in her arms.

“Wha… Sora!”

“Shhh,” she cooed. “Are you hurt? What happened?”

“There was this boy… he looked just like Sora but he was dark and scary. I tried to protect him, but he kicked me away. I wasn’t strong enough to protect him.”

Above Riku’s head, Aqua watched Sora tug on Vanitas’s hand. Ven and Terra spotted him at the same time. Sora held out his hands, like he wanted to be picked up. Ven knelt down with his arms open, but as if to spite him, Vanitas picked Sora up. He even picked up him properly, below his arms and not by his shirt.

Aqua’s heart was racing.

“Is Sora okay?”

“Are you sure you’re not hurt, Riku? Close your eyes and think about every part of your body. Don’t worry about what’s happening. I want to make sure you’re okay.”

Riku closed his eyes tightly. Aqua’s eyes moved back to Vanitas and Sora.

Sora was wrapped around Vanitas’s chest as if it were a tree trunk he was climbing. Vanitas was really playing up the ‘big brother’ act, supporting Sora with his hands. His eyes slipped shut and his face relaxed. Everything between them stilled for a minute.

Then a burst of light exploded between them.

“Sora!” Riku broke from Aqua’s hands and ran towards Sora. She ran towards them, scooping Riku back up on the way.

“Take Sora and run,” she told him.

Ven had summoned Wayward Wind and ran at them, but the light shone brighter and he had to cover his eyes. Aqua shut hers and kept running. She could feel the warmth of the light on her skin.

Slowly, Aqua felt the warmth recede. She opened her eyes. 

Vanitas collapsed on his knees. Sora unwrapped himself from Vanitas and stepped back.

“What- what did you do?”

“I joined your heart with mine. Do you feel better?”

Before Vanitas could answer, Riku dove from Aqua’s arms and dragged Sora away. Vanitas was too busy looking at his own hands to notice them leave.

“There’s no pain.”

Vanitas laughed, but it wasn’t the same hysterical cackle that he brandished as a weapon, it was a laugh of joy.

“My heart… it’s whole again. I don’t even need the ꭓ-blade! With the Unversed-” The jubilation drained from his face. “I can’t feel the Unversed.” His face transformed back into its familiar snarl. “What did he do to me?”

Vanitas summoned his Keyblade, but Terra immediately wrapped it in his own Keyblade. 

“Sora saved you,” he said. “You should thank him.”

“Thank him?” he spat. “I can’t feel the Unversed. They won’t listen to me anymore! How do you think the Master will feel about that?”

“You don’t have to listen to him anymore,” Aqua said. “You said it yourself- you don’t need the ꭓ-blade to heal your heart.”

Vanitas grinned his sadistic grin. “Maybe I want another Keyblade War.”

Ven looked horrified. “Why? How could we have been the same person if you want something so horrible?”

“The Keyblade War will draw Keyblade-bearing warriors from every world. Don’t you want to see our friends again?”

“My friends are right here!”

“Not them, idiot. The Dandelions.” Vanitas scoffed. “You talk so highly of friendship, but you replaced Skuld and Ephemer so quickly. Even your master looks just like Brain. The only one you’re missing is Lauriam, but I guess I can’t blame you after what happened to his _poor_ little sister…” Vanitas smirked.

Ven’s eyes were blank. He was clutching his head. “What- what are you talking about?”

Vanitas narrowed his eyes. “You don’t even remember them? I suppose I got all of the memories. If you really want to know, there’s no need for you to be such a baby about it- join with me,” Vanitas held out his hands, “right here and now. Become the ꭓ-blade.”

“No, I won’t do it.”

Aqua narrowed her eyes. “That’s right. If you think I’m going to sit back and let you destroy his heart-”

Vanitas pouted. It looked just like one of Ven’s pouts. “Fine, then. I guess the Master’s getting his way after all.”

Terra growled. “I’ll never let him have his way.”

“He sent me here with a message,” Vanitas said. “Said he didn’t want to come back to this desolate chunk of sand.”

“It’s probably better than where he’s staying,” Ven retorted.

“Do you want to hear the message or not?”

“What does your master want?” Aqua asked.

“He’s tired of you messing around. If you don’t come to the Keyblade Graveyard soon, he’ll destroy your precious master.”

“Xehanort won’t be able to defeat him by himself,” Terra said.

Vanitas smiled. “I guess we’ll find out,” he said.

In a single smooth motion, Vanitas dismissed his Keyblade and stepped backwards into a corridor of darkness.

“Wait!” Terra shouted. He whipped his Keyblade at Vanitas, but he was gone before it could hit him.

Ven balled his fists. “I can’t stand him. Why would he still want to work with Xehanort?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Terra said. His expression softened as he looked at Ven. “We’ll defeat them both. The Master will be kept safe, and then we can continue training.”

Aqua looked up at the ocean. The sun had set, and the sea had darkened with the sky. A cold wind picked up, whipping Aqua’s hair and chilling her to the bone.

“We should head back home,” Aqua said, “to plan our battle with Xehanort.”

They left without further discussion.

  



	10. Keyblade Graveyard

Master Eraqus was outside when they arrived back at the Land of Departure. Aqua breathed a sigh of relief.

“Welcome home,” he said with a smile. 

“We ran into Vanitas,” Aqua said. “He can’t make the Unversed anymore, but we didn’t defeat him.”

“He had a message from Xehanort,” Terra said. “He said he would destroy you if we didn’t go to the Keyblade Graveyard.”

Master Eraqus sighed wearily. “It seems fate has not spared us yet. Come inside. I’ll make us some tea.”

  


Aqua sipped her tea slowly. It was just mint tea, but it felt like a potion, healing her damaged heart. Terra was staring into his cup, and Ven was reaching for some sugar. They sat around the kitchen table. It looked normal, but the air was filled with nervous energy. Ven kept bouncing his leg under the table, more so than usual. 

They turned to Master Eraqus as soon as he sat down. “Master Aqua, Master Terra, Ventus, do you intend to engage Xehanort at the Keyblade Graveyard?”

Terra still looked a little startled at the title.

“If we don’t, Xehanort is going to attack you,” Ven said. 

“I repelled his attack once before,” Master Eraqus said.

“We repelled Vanitas’s attack,” Aqua corrected. “Xehanort never attacked that day. At least not directly.”

“I destroyed all those hideouts for nothing,” Ven grumbled.

Terra looked up from his tea. “Maybe not. If we stay on this world, Xehanort and Vanitas will come here. We’ll have a defensive advantage and another fighter.”

“This world has not yet fully recovered from Vanitas’s siege,” Master Eraqus said. “You are correct, Master Terra: this world would be ideal for defence and would give us all an advantage. However, as the master of this world, I am tasked to keeping it safe first and foremost. The Land of Departure is vital in keeping the balance between darkness and light. It is my duty to see that as little harm comes to this world as possible.” He looked down. “As your master, I want you all to be safe as possible, but as the master of this realm-”

Aqua put her hand on his. “We understand,” she said. “To tell you the truth, I want you to be safe here.”

Master Eraqus smiled. “It is my job to worry about you, Master Aqua, not the other way around.”

“We’re supposed equals now, right?” Terra asked. “So we’re allowed to worry.”

Master Eraqus chuckled. “Right again, Master Terra.”

“Ven, Terra, do you object to fighting at the Keyblade Graveyard?” Aqua asked. 

They shook their heads.

“Then that’s where we’ll fight. Master, you will stay here to protect this world?”

“Yes. There is a chance that Xehanort has set this up as a misdirect. He’s a clever man, and we must operate under the assumption that he is aware of Aqua’s knowledge of the future. If so, he could be setting this up as a trap, to attack in another location while our attention is elsewhere. Regardless, I will not send you to the Keyblade Graveyard defenseless. Aqua, I presume you still remember your fight there.”

“Yes.”

“Tell us as much as you can remember about Xehanort’s attacks and methods.”

Aqua took a deep breath. “It all happened so fast, but we summoned our armor… Terra, you rushed ahead first, but Xehanort moved the earth itself into a platform. Then… I think he used the fallen Keyblades. They attacked us, like he was the one controlling them.”

Master Eraqus took a sip of tea. “That makes sense. The Keyblade that Xehanort yields is not the one from his heart, nor is it an ordinary Keyblade- it does not even possess a name. It has been passed down for generations from my ancestor, a Foreteller, or so the legend goes.”

Ven looked up. “Foreteller?”

“The Foretellers were, allegedly, survivors of the Keyblade War sent to continue the legacy of the Keyblade. If Xehanort’s Keyblade really did come from one of them, those Keyblades would owe him their allegiance.”

Aqua frowned. “I think Vanitas used them, too. I could be wrong, though.”

“Hm, perhaps it is simply a trick of the darkness,” Master Eraqus said. “Can you think of anything else?”

“There was this man with an eyepatch. He didn’t have a Keyblade, but had bow-guns. His attacks were more annoying than powerful. He said Xehanort sent him to buy time…”

“Time for what?” Terra asked.

“I’m not sure,” Aqua said. “Maybe for Vanitas to arrive.” She grimaced. “He stuck me down with a sneak attack. I was out for a while, and when I woke up…”

Ven had already become a different person.

Aqua took a shuddering breath. Things were going to be different this time. They had to be.

“Xehanort wants to take Terra’s body, and Vanitas wants to fight Ven,” Aqua said, “but they don’t have any plans for me. I can keep Xehanort from Terra, but Vanitas is fast. I don’t know if I can keep him from Ven.”

“I can fight Vanitas,” Terra said. “As long as Ven stays with me, he’ll stay where I can fight him.”

Ven frowned. “I wanted to fight with Aqua.”

There was no way she was letting Xehanort get his wiggly fingers anywhere near Ven this time. “I don’t know if Terra is fast enough to keep Vanitas away, and I don’t think I can fight Vanitas and Xehanort at the same time.”

Ven looked down into his teacup. “I guess that makes sense.”

“So we have our plan of attack for tomorrow?” Terra asked. 

Ven and Aqua nodded. 

“It’s a good one,” Master Eraqus noted. “Most battle plans fall apart the second a battle begins. Simplicity is the key.”

Any battle plan was better than the nothing they had last time, but it still might not be enough. 

“Master?” Aqua hated how small her voice sounded. “You- if we don’t come back-“

“That’s not going to happen,” Terra said, his voice as immovable as the earth itself. “Have faith in yourself. Xehanort will fall.”

Aqua sighed. “It’s not just about believing, Terra. Master- if one of us comes back with white hair and yellow eyes, it means Xehanort took our body. I know you’ll do what you have to. And if none of us come back-“

“Will you go back?” Ven asked. “If we fail, will you go back to your original timeline?”

Would she abandon this version of Ven and Terra too?

“I don’t know if you should, Aqua,” Master Eraqus said. 

“What do you mean?”

Master Eraqus looked down into his tea. “The fourth rule of time travel is that destiny cannot be changed. The rule was devised from the idea that there can only be one timeline for the worlds to go through. Although I have no way of knowing for sure, if you go back to your own time, this timeline will cease to exist, even in your memories. It will be as if you woke up from a dreamless sleep.”

“My original timeline isn’t hopeless, but it’s bleak. Even so, if I stayed here, would I be abandoning my Ven and Terra?”

“I have no way of knowing,” Master Eraqus said. “However, if you made it to the point in time where you first traveled through time, I can only surmise that your original timeline would become inaccessible. In a sense, you get to choose which timeline exists.”

Terra didn’t look into Aqua’s eyes, but he looked between them, which was the closest he could get. “It doesn’t matter which one you choose- we have an unbreakable connection, right?”

Ven tried to reach for the sugar, even though he was out of tea. Master Eraqus moved it away from him. Aqua put extra sugar in her tea and passed the cup to Ven with a smile. 

Master Eraqus smiled at them. “You three will be fine tomorrow. Now go to bed, or I’ll cast Sleep on all three of you.”

“Yes, Master.”

  


The next morning, Aqua let herself gaze out her window for a long time, soaking in the beauty of the Realm of Light. If she did have to return to the Realm of Darkness, she would enjoy the light while she could. Maybe some of the light would stay in her heart. 

She finally looked away from the window at the sound of footsteps and a pound at her door. 

“Aqua!” Ven shouted. “Are you awake?”

“If I weren’t, I would be now.”

“The Master’s making pancakes!”

“I’ll be right down!”

Aqua refused to look back as she jogged down the stairs. She would see her room again, no matter the outcome of the battle. 

Sure enough, the smell of pancakes greeted Aqua as soon as she entered the kitchen. There was still the usual fare of dozen-egg omelet portions and fried meat, but each plate was adorned with a small stack of pancakes. She dug in with gusto, enjoying each sweet bite.

After they were finished eating, they silently began their final preparations. Aqua stuffed as many Elixirs and Potions as she could fit into her pockets. Terra meditated at the front courtyard. Ven tried to join him, but soon he became impatient and joined Aqua in packing.

When they were ready to leave, they all donned their armor and faced their Master.

Master Eraqus looked at them with weary eyes. “My students- no, you are all like children to me. You have all trained hard. I am proud of all of you. I know you three will do what I could not. End Xehanort’s ambitions. Protect the worlds. And when you are finished, please,” he held out his arms with a smile, “return home.”

It must have been uncomfortable, being embraced by three armored warriors, but Master Eraqus didn’t seem to mind. 

  


The Keyblade Graveyard looked exactly as Aqua remembered it. The sun, already low in the sky, burned through their armor. A stale wind rattled the keychains of a thousand abandoned Keyblades that jutted from the ground like teeth of a fallen beast. Ven, Aqua, and Terra stood on a cliff, looking over them all. There were so many of them-

Ven grabbed her and Terra’s hands for a moment. “We’ll stop this, right? There can’t be another war like this.”

“Yes,” Aqua said.

“We won’t let this happen again,” Terra said.

They were starting down the path to the graveyard below when they were attacked by Unversed.

“How?” Ven shouted as he leapt into action. “I thought Vanitas couldn’t make any more of these.”

“Well,” Aqua said as she cut some down, “he said he couldn’t feel them. That doesn’t mean they all disappeared.”

Aqua leapt back, stunning a batch of Unversed with a Thundaga. The Unversed were no longer weak enough to defeat in a single strike, but they easily fell to Terra and Ven’s Keyblades.

The Unversed on the path made a good warm up. By the time they reached the center of the battlefield, the sun was dipping below the horizon. Together, they waited.

Aqua’s heart was beating so fast she could barely breathe. The first time she was here, everything happened too fast for her to think about it all, but now, she knew exactly what would happen and why. She could fail again. If anything went wrong, anything at all, everything would be for nothing. The fear bubbled inside her like poison.

“Welcome, warriors of the key.” Xehanort’s voice was as rough as always, but was pitched to carry across the entire graveyard.

A dust cloud cleared to reveal Xehanort and Vanitas. Vanitas had his mask on, and he was strutting towards them like nothing at all had changed. 

Aqua could hardly hear Xehanort over the roar of her heart in her ears. 

“Behold. These lifeless keys used to be full of power-”

Aqua had already heard this speech once. She was done listening to anything he had to say. Without pausing, she summoned her armor and ran at Xehanort. Behind her, she heard Ven and Terra summon theirs.

The ground beneath Aqua shook, and she leapt back just in time to avoid the wall of earth that shot skyward. A clinking sound drew her eyes to her right, just in time to see the inert Keyblades whip at her. Her barrier stopped them from hitting her, but the force of the rush drove her back. She could only hope Terra and Ven were managing the onslaught.

Once the Keyblade swarm dispersed, Aqua threw Stormfall into its glider and jumped on in one smooth motion. She raced up the pillar where Xehanort and Vanitas waited. Their attention wasn’t on her, though. Xehanort’s eyes were tracking a black mass rising up from his hand. Once it hit the clouds, they scattered, revealing the radiant, heart-shaped moon.

For an instant, Aqua looked up at the pale blue light of Kingdom Hearts. She fingered the Wayfinder in her pocket.

_Terra, Ven, lend me strength._

Then her eyes locked onto the yellow ones below. Aqua dove down to meet her fate.

“Ah,” Xehanort rasped, “you were not the one I was expecting.”

Aqua dismissed her armor and raised her chin defiantly. “I won’t let you touch Terra. Not today, not ever!” She was surprised her voice stayed even.

Xehanort narrowed his eyes and smiled. 

Vanitas still had his helmet on, but Aqua could hear the smirk in his voice. “You still don’t get it, do you? You really are an idiot.”

Xehanort shifted his gaze to Vanitas. “Go, take what Ventus owes you.”

“What about Terra?”

“I need him alive. Just in case.”

Aqua’s heart seized with fear.

_In case of what?_

Vanitas jumped down the pillar and out of sight.

Xehanort’s eyes were alight with an eerie excitement. “Will you not dive after him?”

“Terra and Ven can take Vanitas by themselves.”

Xehanort’s smile widened. “And you think you can defeat me by yourself?”

“My heart is strong. You are destined to fall, Xehanort.”

Xehanort grinned. His teeth glinted in the pale light. “Ah, but if that were true, you wouldn’t have traveled through time, correct?”

Aqua’s breath caught in her throat.

_He knows he knows he knows he knows he knows he knows he knows-_

It was one thing to suspect his knowledge, another to hear it in his raspy voice.

“Why, I’ve known the entire time. Your technique during the Mark of Mastery was too brutal to be just from Eraqus’s teachings, and you looked at me with such hatred and fear. Your heart belongs to darkness, girl! You know that you cannot save them even if you go back a thousand times. Savor that fear and despair. Let it empower you!”

Aqua’s darkness lapped at her heels like a rapid current. It pulled on her, begging to be unleashed, but she knew better than to listen to anything Xehanort said.

_Why would Xehanort want my heart to be filled with darkness if he thinks it will make me stronger?_

When the answer came to her an instant later, Aqua’s heart twisted.

_I’m his new vessel. Terra is the backup._

Panic flooded through her like a crashing wave, threatening to overpower her, but Aqua forced herself to take a deep breath.

_I can’t lose. Not here. Not now._

“I don’t need the darkness. I am Master Aqua, and I will not let you take my body!”

Xehanort’s grin widened. He summoned his black, nameless Keyblade.

“And how will you stop me, girl?”

She answered him with a flurry of spells. Xehanort staggered back a step, and Aqua took the opportunity to rush him with a flurry of attacks. She was jumping back when he flickered and vanished.

Aqua turned an instant too late. Xehanort rained a series of punishing blows on her back, almost ending the battle instantly. 

_If Terra couldn’t defeat him, how can I?_

_It doesn’t matter how, as long as I do it._

Her Curaga didn’t fully heal her, but it allowed her to notice the shifting ground beneath her, like what happened during her fight with Terra. Aqua rolled away in time to miss the pillar of earth shooting skyward, but Xehanort didn’t let up.

Xehanort shot dark, icy blasts at Aqua. She rolled under them, but Xehanort rushed at her the instant she jumped out of it. Aqua managed to block the strikes, but they were almost as strong as Terra’s. For an old man, he was fast and powerful.

_I’ll defeat him if it’s the last thing I do._

He teleported away again, but Aqua immediately jumped away. She leapt back further and trained her Shotlock on him. When he stumbled from the bolts, she released a full flurry of spells at him. She rushed forward to strike him with Stormfall, but Xehanort smiled and wriggled his fingers. A swarm of Keyblades rushed at her. Aqua put up a protective barrier, but they pelted at it like dive-bombing birds, pushing her back. She was almost at the edge of the cliff when they finally relented, turning upwards for another dive.

Aqua looked up. Xehanort was focused on controlling the Keyblades, too much so to focus on her. She took a deep breath and activated Spellweaver.

Xehanort barely had time to look up before her magic slammed into him. While he was staggering, she didn’t let up, unleashing the full force of the spell as she spun. He crumpled to his knees.

_Did I do it?_

“Only now have I truly won,” Xehanort rasped.

The relief in Aqua’s heart was washed away by fear.

Xehanort stood up and, without hesitation, plunged his Keyblade into his own chest.

“Now, Aqua, it is time for the final union!”

Terra _had_ defeated Xehanort last time. And now Aqua had too, weakening his body enough for him to unlock his own heart. They had both played directly into his hands.

Aqua knew, as every animal did, that she had three options: fight, flight, or freeze.

“Out with the old and brittle vessel, and in with a younger, stronger one!”

She couldn’t freeze, not now. If she froze, Xehanort’s heart would slip into her body.

“I swore I would survive… and be there to see what awaited beyond the Keyblade War!”

She couldn’t flee, because then she would be turning her back on her enemy.

“And now it is your darkness that shall be the ark that sustains me!”

She would have to fight.

As Xehanort’s heart flew from its dying body, Aqua’s heart called out to her friends.

_Please, give me strength._

She raised Stormfall and shot a Wayfinder-shaped burst of magic at Xehanort’s heart.

His heart jumped out of the way and headed straight for her.

Aqua turned and leapt off the cliff. She turned Stormfall into its glider form the instant before she hit the ground and sped off as fast as she could. Her mind was blank, completely consumed by the instinct to escape.

She didn’t even dare to turn around and see if his heart was still following her.

The wasteland rushed below her as she flew away away away-

Familiar figures got bigger as she raced towards them. Ven and Terra were looking in her direction, Keyblades drawn.

“Aqua?” Ven shouted.

Terra’s eyes grew wide. “What’s that?”

_Oh no._

The instant Aqua lost focus, her glider clipped a fallen Keyblade and she was thrown off of it. She hit the dust and rolled.

_I’ve lead Xehanort straight to Terra._

Aqua got to her knees, Stormfall in hand, only to see Xehanort’s heart zip past her and towards Terra. His heart was being repelled by bolts of darkness, but they wouldn’t keep him away for long.

There was only one thing Aqua could do to save Terra. She had to trap Xehanort somewhere. 

Aqua stood up and held out her hands.

“Xehanort! If you want my body, come and take it!” 

The heart reversed direction and raced towards her. Distantly, she could hear Ven and Terra shouting.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

Aqua reached inside her heart to the darkness that was rushing through it. In an instant, she summoned her fear, guilt, and despair and sent it below her in a chasm of darkness.

As soon as Xehanort’s heart reached her, she grabbed it and fell back into the abyss she had created.

 _Go ahead, take my body. See how much good my young flesh is in the Realm of Darkness._


	11. The Realm of Darkness

Chapter 11: The Realm of Darkness

  


Aqua opened her eyes to the darkness of the blackest shade. The familiar stench of the Realm of Darkness filled her lungs like oil and dragged her down, down, down. Something rushed past her ears with a yelp, but it sunk past Aqua before she knew what it was.

Aqua held Xehanort’s heart just above her chest, but he wasn’t entering her body. Her heart was racing in terror.

“What’s wrong? Did you decide you didn’t want a girl after all?”

Above them, the window to the Realm of Light was getting smaller and smaller. She just had to keep him here until it was closed. The heart struggled in her hands, but she refused to let it go.

A peaceful smile drifted onto Aqua’s face, despite the fear flooding every breath. She could keep Terra safe.

“You’re a creep, but you never struck me as a coward. Are you scared of a girl’s body? At least you’ll have my strength, right? I’m not as muscular as Terra, but this body is yours.” Aqua’s voice broke. “I won’t even fight back.”

“AQUA!” 

Two voices drew Aqua’s attention past Xehanort’s heart and towards the distant light. Terra and Ven rushed through the gate she had made.

“No!”

Xehanort’s heart flew away from her. Aqua snatched at it, but she could only watch in horror as it reached closer and closer to Terra-

Until it flew past him and back into the shrinking gate to the Realm of Light. The passage to the Realm of Light faded with a final flash.

“Aqua!”

Terra and Ven were still diving after her with their gliders, reaching out their hands. Aqua took them. Their linked hands formed a circle as they spiraled further into the darkness.

“We caught you!” Ven was smiling. 

Aqua looked up. There wasn’t even a glimmer from the Realm of Light. 

“It’s too late,” she said, “you’re trapped here.”

Terra’s voice was calm, like he hadn’t just jumped into the Realm of Darkness with no way out. “We’re together. That’s all that matters.”

“But you were supposed to be safe in the Realm of Light.”

“We couldn’t just leave you,” Ven said. 

“You’d do the same for us,” Terra said, “I know it.”

Aqua looked at Terra. He was smiling, but Aqua knew his heart was full of darkness. If ten years in the Realm of Darkness darkened the light in Aqua’s heart, what would it do to Terra’s? Would Ven’s pure light be weakened? 

“Lighten up, Aqua,” Ven said. “I know traveling through this place will be hard, but you’re not alone anymore.”

Loneliness was the worst part of her first time through the Realm of Darkness. Maybe he was right. Maybe things would be better this time. A smile finally darted across Aqua’s face.

When they touched down onto the barren ground of the Realm of Darkness, Aqua realized they were not alone.

“Now I have to deal with you?” Vanitas snarled.

He glared at Aqua with glowing yellow eyes. His helmet was discarded on the ground next to him, shattered beyond repair, but he looked uninjured.

Ven dropped into a fighting stance and summoned Wayward Wind. “What are you doing here?”

“I didn’t choose to fall in here. I was trying to attack the old man after I drove him back- you’re welcome, by the way- when your stupid portal sucked me in. Thanks to your stupid plan, we’re all stuck down here for eternity!”

“There’s no need to be like that,” Aqua chided. “I know the way out.”

“Oh yeah?” Vanitas sneered. “How?”

“I’ve been here before.”

“Why don’t you use that darkness door thing?” Ven asked.

“Gee, why didn’t I think of that?”

“It’s perfectly understandable to forget things under pressure,” Terra said.

Vanitas scoffed. “I was being sarcastic, idiot.”

Ven narrowed his eyes. “Don’t call Terra an idiot!”

“He is one!”

Aqua cut off Ven’s retort. “Why can’t you teleport out of here, like you did before?”

Vanitas scowled. “I don’t know. Maybe we’re too far from the Realm of Light or the Realms Between.”

“If you travel with us, we can help you get close enough for it to work,” Aqua said.

Vanitas jutted his chin out. “Why would I ever want to travel with you idiots?”

“Well, there’s only one path through the Realm of Darkness,” Aqua said. “And we’re going in the same direction.”

“I’ll just get there first,” Vanitas said. He summoned his Keyblade and walked away.

Ven huffed and dismissed Wayward Wind. “Good riddance!”

“Ven, why are you always so aggressive towards Vanitas?” Terra asked.

“He’s mean! I don’t like him. Why do you even want him to travel with us, Aqua?”

Aqua put her hand on Ven’s shoulder and looked at where Vanitas was hacking at small Heartless. “Xehanort put him through a lot of pain. He was hurting constantly before Sora healed him. I don’t know if he knows how to act differently.”

“‘Course he does. He has my memories, right?”

“Ven, Vanitas was with Xehanort for as long as you were with us. You’ve seen how cruel he can be. If he was willing to hurt you just to make a weapon, how do you think he managed to control Vanitas?”

Ven looked away. “When you put it that way… I guess I’ll give him a chance.”

They started walking along the path. Terra walked closer to Aqua.

“We can think of this as our first teaching job as Masters,” Terra said with a smile.

Aqua sighed. Teaching Vanitas would be a trial by fire. If his disposition was anything to go by, that would be literal, too.

A swarm of small Heartless appeared around them. They all summoned their weapons instantly.

“What are these things?” Ven asked as he cast Aeroga.

“They’re called the Heartless,” Aqua said. “Fighting them is just like fighting the Unversed.”

“That’s good to know,” Terra said as he sliced through them. They melted back into shadow with a single swipe of Ends to the Earth. “They fall pretty easily.”

“These are the small ones,” Aqua said. “There are larger ones ahead. Some of them are taller than houses.”

A Darkside appeared ahead of them as if summoned by Aqua’s words. Terra and Ven took a second to gawk at it, but Vanitas’s shout of pain drove them forward.

Aqua began to cast spells as soon as she was in range. Ven rushed forward, drawing its attention. Terra ran to Vanitas.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“None of your business,” Vanitas spat. He jumped up and raced back at the Darkside. 

Between Vanitas and Ven jumping at its face, Terra whaling on its legs, and Aqua bombarding it with spells, its attention was all over the place. She only had to dodge a slow swipe once before it melted into shadow.

Ven smiled and pumped his fist.

“I didn’t need your help,” Vanitas said. “Quit following me.”

“There’s one path,” Terra said. “It’s not our fault.”

Vanitas scoffed before running off into the dark.

  


They kept walking. Occasionally, they would see flashes of dark fire or lightning from ahead or hear a snarl from Vanitas, but he remained ahead of them. Suddenly, Terra froze.

“What’s wrong?” Ven asked.

“We’re in the Realm of Darkness,” Terra said. “We should be using our armor for protection against the influence of the darkness.”

“I didn’t have my armor last time,” Aqua said. “My heart survived, but…”

They all summoned their armor.

For a while, everything seemed to be going alright. They cut down the Heartless with relative ease and were able to repel Vanitas when he was bored enough to attack them. 

The problems began when they realized they couldn’t talk to each other. Terra was right under a Darkside, hitting it with Ends of the Earth and a few spells, when the Darkside reached down to swipe at Terra. Aqua called out in warning, but he didn’t even turn his head. 

After the Darkside was defeated, Aqua asked if he was okay, but he still didn’t turn his head. Finally, she took off her helmet.

“Terra, are you okay?”

He turned to her, but she couldn’t hear anything he said.

“Take off your helmet,” she said. “I can’t hear you with it on.”

He paused and obliged. “I’m fine, Aqua. We shouldn’t have our helmets off. The darkness could get to our hearts.”

“We can’t hear each other if they’re on! I think that’s even more dangerous,” Aqua said.

Ven slipped off his helmet and dismissed it in a flash of light. “I don’t like having this thing on, anyway.”

And so they continued on without their helmets. Almost immediately after their conversation, another group of Heartless rushed out from the shadows.

“Again?” Ven groaned as he lined up his Shotlock.

Terra was slicing through a crowd of them. He looked too tired to do anything else.

“I don’t know how we’re going to keep this up,” he said. “Not without stopping to rest.”

Aqua gulped down an Elixir and finished off the pack with a Firaga. “There weren’t nearly this many when I first came here.”

“Maybe it’s because there are more people here now,” Terra said.

“Maybe.”

“Can we stop?” Ven asked. “Just for a little rest.”

“Alright,” Aqua said. “We can catch our breaths.”

Ven and Terra practically collapsed onto the ground. Aqua sat down just as forcefully. 

The space around them was bleak. There was nothing but sickly-purple wastelands as far as she could see. In the distance, the yellow eyes of the Heartless flitted from craig to craig, going about whatever business creatures of darkness had. How much time had passed in the Realm of Light? A few hours? A year? What was Master Eraqus doing? 

Aqua shook her head forcefully. These thoughts weren’t doing any good, but they kept appearing in her mind like the endless waves of Heartless. She needed a distraction.

“Hey, Ven,” she said. “You don’t know how to sense hearts yet, right?”

He lit up a little. “Are you going to teach me?”

Terra looked over at her. “Starting the teaching early?”

“We have time. We might as well help Ven catch up a little.”

Ven sat up straight. “I’m okay with this. How do I start?”

Aqua got up and gave him a hand up. He was too excited to refuse it. Terra stood up and brushed himself off. 

“We can start while we’re walking,” Aqua said. “Let’s start with some review. Do you remember what the heart is?”

Ven looked up. “It’s everything we are, right?”

“Well, not quite. There are three parts of a complete being, remember?”

“Right! There’s the heart, the body, and…”

“The soul,” Terra finished. “The Master always talked about the soul as the glue that holds the heart and body together.”

Ven perked up a bit. “I remember now. The soul is like the will, right?”

“Exactly,” Aqua said. “It’s what gives us life. But you’re also right in a way. Without hearts, we wouldn’t be anything but husks.”

“So how do I sense them?”

Aqua looked at Terra. Terra looked at Aqua.

“ _T_ _his was your idea,_ ” his face said.

“Well,” Aqua said, “the Master had us meditate for a while, until we could reach out…” 

_I don’t know how to teach this._

Aqua sighed. She could do it easily, but explaining how to do it was like explaining how to breathe. How could they be teachers if they didn’t know how to teach?

A dark presence caught her attention. She resisted the urge to summon Stormfall and instead turned back to Ven.

“Just close your eyes and try to see if your heart senses anything.”

Aqua summoned Stormfall, scanning to see if the presence would reveal himself. Terra followed suit.

Finally, they heard Vanitas’s mocking laughter. Ven opened his eyes and summoned Wayward Wind.

“Vanitas!”

He stepped out of the shadows. “You three look ridiculous.”

Ven glanced down at his armor. “We look cool! You’re the one who looks ridiculous in that bodysuit and gross skirt… thing.”

“Maybe you would look cool if you had your helmets on,” Vanitas said, “but you look dumb without them.”

“You’re just jealous,” Ven said.

Before Vanitas could summon his Keyblade, Aqua moved in front of Ven. “We’re teaching Ven how to sense hearts. Do you want to join us?”

Vanitas grinned. “I already can sense hearts, but feel free to keep teaching that loser. One day, he might even be strong enough to actually travel without a babysitter.”

Ven leapt at him before Aqua could do anything. He and Vanitas landed in the dirt, kicking and punching. Aqua ran forward, but Terra held her back.

“It might help for them to get it out of their system,” he said.

“But what if they form the ꭓ-blade?”

Terra turned back to Ven and Vanitas. Vanitas kept trying to overpower Ven, but Ven slipped out of his grasp to try for different holds, which Vanitas broke out of.

“It takes more than a few hits,” Terra said. “I tried to keep them away from each other at the Keyblade Graveyard, but they got a few hits in anyway without anything happening. Besides, do you think Vanitas wants to form the ꭓ-blade right now?”

“I don’t know! I haven’t exactly had the chance to ask him.”

“Well, he is right here.”

Aqua sighed and held out Stormfall. A barrier separated Ven and Vanitas. They were both glaring at each other and breathing hard.

“C’mon Aqua,” Ven groaned. “I was winning!”

Vanitas spat something on the ground. “Keep telling yourself that.”

Aqua healed Ven, then looked at Vanitas. “Do you want to be healed?”

“I don’t want your stupid magic.”

“Never mind,” she said. “Do you still want to form the ꭓ-blade, Vanitas?”

Vanitas frowned. “It wouldn’t be worth it if he,” he pointed at Ven, “insisted on destroying our hearts.”

Aqua relaxed a little. “Well, Vanitas, if you already can sense hearts, can you turn your Keyblade into a glider?”

“Why would I want to do something stupid like that?”

Ven grinned. “So I can do something you can’t.”

“I never said I can’t.”

“Then do it,” Ven taunted.

“I don’t want to,” Vanitas said. “Can you do it? Right now?”

Ven grinned. “Yup!” He summoned Wayward Wind and threw it up. It instantly turned into his glider, which flew around a bit before returning to Ven’s hand as a Keyblade.

Vanitas summoned his Keyblade and threw it up. It came straight down into the dust. He frowned, pulled it out of the ground, and began to walk away.

“Your glider looks dumb anyway.”

“Hey.” Ven reached out to grab Vanitas’s wrist, but Vanitas pulled it back. “Sorry for taunting you. Don’t feel bad about not getting it right away, I-”

“Why is this so important to you all of the sudden?” Vanitas hissed. “We’re not friends.”

“We could be,” Ven said. “We were the same person once, right?”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Vanitas said. “In fact, it means we’re destined to hate each other.”

Ven sighed. “I don’t hate you, Vanitas. I just wish you weren’t so mean all the time.”

“Well, I hate you! All you do is laugh with your stupid friends all day. You don’t know anything about the real world. You’re all just naive idiots. I can’t stand you!”

He ran down the path.

Terra frowned at his retreating back. 

“When he’s ready,” Aqua said, “he’ll come back.”

Ven kicked the dust. 

“I don’t get it,” he said. “Why does he hate us so much?”

“I don’t know, Ven,” Aqua said. “I wish I did.” 

They continued down the endless path. Terra lead the way, and Ven stood behind him, trying to sense his heart. Aqua brought up the rear, scanning the wasteland for any sign of Vanitas or Heartless.

Suddenly, a pack of Heartless melted from the shadows. They formed a circle and leapt at Ven. Ven reacted in an instant, throwing Wayward Wind at the one closest to him and rolling out of the way. Aqua hit them with a Thundaga, and Terra shot a Dark Firaga at the remaining ones. They were defeated in seconds, but Aqua rushed to Ven’s side anyway.

“Are you okay?”

Ven brushed her off. “I’m fine. They didn’t even hit me. Let’s keep going.”

A short while later, it happened again: a pack of Heartless appeared and attacked Ven. When Aqua started attacking a small one with Stormfall, a few of them targeted her, but they mostly went after Ven.

When the Heartless had been destroyed, Aqua lowered Stormfall and looked at Terra. “Have you noticed that the Heartless have mostly been targeting Ven?”

He thought for a second. “Yeah. Now that I think about it, they always have.”

Ven frowned. “Is this because my heart is all light?”

“It must be,” Aqua said. “That also might be why there are more of them this time.”

Ven drooped a little. “I’m sorry, guys.”

Aqua smiled. “Don’t be. If your heart is bright enough to attract more Heartless, it’ll be bright enough to keep the darkness away from our hearts.”

“I hope so!” Ven said. 

The smile on his face alone made Aqua’s heart a little brighter.

  


Terra and Aqua were in the middle of lecturing Ven about elemental theory when Vanitas jumped in front of them. The three of them summoned their Keyblades in an instant.

“You two are horrible at lecturing.”

Aqua lowered Stormfall. “You were listening?”

“It’s not like there’s anything else to do here. Believe me, if I could do anything else, I’d do it. It your fault I’m even here. The least you could do is be interesting.”

Aqua forced herself not to smile. This was the opportunity she needed. “Well, Vanitas, if you have any questions, it would be easier to answer them if you traveled with us.”

“Fine,” Vanitas huffed. “Only because there’s nothing better to do.”

Terra smiled. “We’ll watch your back.”

“Don’t patronize me,” Vanitas said. “I can take care of myself.”

“I’m not patronizing you,” Terra said. 

“That’s even worse,” Vanitas said. “How do you know I won’t stab you in the back?”

Aqua thought about it for a second. “That’s not really your style, is it?”

Vanitas scoffed, but didn’t say anything to the contrary. 

They walked in silence for a bit until Terra spoke up. 

“So, how do you sense hearts?” he asked. 

Vanitas smirked. “Call it a perk of having a heart of darkness. I can see the darkness in everyone’s hearts.”

“Does that mean you can’t see mine?” Ven asked. “Because Aqua and Terra said I don’t have any darkness in my heart.”

“I can always tell where you are,” Vanitas said. “Even after that stupid kid closed my heart.”

Ven narrowed his eyes. “Don’t insult Sora! Especially after everything he did for you!”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Vanitas said. “But you’re right. The kid was smarter than the rest of you put together.”

“How so?” Aqua asked, against her better judgement.

Vanitas grinned his feral grin. “He knew to be afraid of me.”

Aqua rolled her eyes. 

  


“Vanitas, do you know anything about the World Order?” Terra asked.

“I don’t know anything, and I don’t care.”

Aqua bit back a sigh. Xehanort had broken the World Order left and right; it was little surprise he had failed to tell Vanitas about it at all.

“Ven, what do you remember about the World Order?” she asked.

Ven bit his lip. “It’s like… the rules for world travelers, right?”

Vanitas scoffed. “You’re all so obsessed with rules.”

Aqua nodded at Ven, ignoring Vanitas completely. “Anything else?”

“Um… We aren’t allowed to tell people that we’re from another world?”

“You have the right idea,” Terra said. “In order to prevent conflicts between worlds, which could spread darkness through them, it’s important that no one knows of the existence of other worlds. Sometimes, when you visit a new world, your appearance will change so you can blend into the new world. That’s the magic of the world.”

“How does it happen?” Ven asked. “I don’t remember casting any magic when we went to Cinderella’s world, but I shrunk anyway.”

The reminder of Cinderella made Aqua smile. “The heart of the world will change travelers in order to protect itself,” she said.

Vanitas narrowed his eyes. “Worlds have hearts?”

They all stopped in their tracks and looked at Vanitas, but his confusion seemed genuine. Vanitas bristled under the stares.

“Well, excuse me for not acting like a know-it-all like the rest of you!” he shouted.

Aqua held her hands out in a placating gesture. “It’s okay,” she said. “It’s not your fault for not knowing.”

“Stop patronizing me!” he snarled.

_I’m not patronizing you!_

Aqua forced herself to take a deep breath. Trial by fire, indeed.

Terra’s expression darkened. “This is Xehanort’s fault. If he was your master, he should have taught you the basics.”

Vanitas’s frown didn’t leave. “Maybe he didn’t teach it to me because it’s not important. You’re so busy with rules that you forgot to teach that loser how to defend himself.”

Ven stuck his tongue out at Vanitas. “I can defend myself just fine!”

“Oh, yeah? Then why is Aqua always babysitting you?”

“She’s not babysitting me,” Ven said. “I’m traveling with her ‘cuz I like it!”

“Anyway,” Terra said, drawing back the attention of the other boys, “it’s important to protect the hearts of worlds from being consumed by darkness. That’s one of our duties as Keyblade wielders. With the Keyblade, we can lock the hearts of worlds to prevent them from falling into darkness.”

Vanitas didn’t say anything, but his expression told Aqua how he felt about that. Before Aqua could add anything, Heartless melted from the shadows and attacked. Vanitas grinned, summoned his Keyblade, and leapt at them like a starving animal snatching prey. 

When the last of the Heartless were defeated, Aqua dismissed her Keyblade and looked around.

“Hey, what’s your Keyblade called?” Ven asked.

“Why do you care?” 

Ven held up his. “Mine’s Wayward Wind.”

Vanitas scoffed. “I know that, idiot. It used to be mine, too, you know.”

Ven grinned sheepishly. “I forgot you have all of our memories. But what’s your new one called?”

Vanitas looked at his Keyblade. “Void Gear.”

“That’s a cool name!” Ven said.

“I know,” Vanitas said smugly.

“My Keyblade is called Ends of the Earth,” Terra said.

“And mine is Stormfall,” Aqua said.

Vanitas dismissed Void Gear. “I don’t care,” he said.

  


Time passed. Aqua didn’t know how much time had passed, but Aqua and Terra’s lessons were more successful. Ven still couldn’t sense hearts and Vanitas had barely even tried to summon a glider, but their physical fights were starting to become less frequent and their verbal ones had less bite. Vanitas was even becoming nicer.

Or they had all just adjusted to his constant insults.

Terra was in the middle of telling Ven and Vanitas about a world where people turned into big cats when a wave of Heartless appeared. Immediately, they all dropped the conversation and turned to the Heartless so fast Aqua swore that some of the Heartless widened their eyes. They were defeated almost as soon as they appeared.

“I got five!” Ven shouted. 

“That fifth one doesn’t count,” Vanitas said. “Just because you hit one once with your Keyblade doesn’t make it yours.”

“I was trying to help you!” Ven said. “You were trying to fight that Darkside all by yourself!”

“I could handle it. I don’t need your help.”

Aqua frowned. Making a contest on how many Heartless they could kill sounded like a good idea at first, but if it was going to make Vanitas refuse help-

“We should team up,” Terra said. “Me and Aqua verses you and Ven.”

Vanitas smiled. His teeth glinted in the low light. “I like the sound of that.”

“Who’s going to keep track of how many we kill?” Ven asked.

“We’ll have to keep track of our own. Don’t cheat,” Aqua said as she looked at Vanitas.

“I don’t need to cheat to win,” he retorted. 

“ _We_ don’t need to cheat,” Ven corrected.

“Whatever.”

Terra picked off his story right where he left off, and they continued down the road. When he finished the story and moved on to the next one, Aqua started looking around for the next Heartless attack. They had been coming fairly regularly, except more recently...

“There have been less Heartless coming after us,” she said. “Has anyone else noticed that?”

Vanitas smirked. “You’re welcome.”

Aqua stopped walking. “What did you do?”

Vanitas tucked his hands behind his head in a perfect imitation of Ven. “The weaker ones are easy to control. It’s just like controlling the Unversed, back when I could.” His face darkened.

“You’re controlling the Heartless?” Ven asked.

“I’m telling them to leave us alone. The weaker ones can tell we can destroy them. The stronger ones don’t listen.”

“Vanitas, you have to stop that!” Terra shouted.

Vanitas rolled his eyes and dropped his hands. “You guys are so dramatic.”

“Terra is right,” Aqua said. “Controlling the Heartless sounds good now, but if you continue, darkness will overtake your heart.”

Vanitas started laughing. It wasn’t the mocking laughter he used to taunt them or the joyful laughter from the Destiny Islands, but something genuine. He had to stop for a second before taking a deep breath. “Are you serious? I _am_ darkness. What else can they do to me?”

He had a point.

“What if they turn on you?” Terra asked.

Vanitas sighed. “That’s what the Keyblade is for, idiots.” He summoned Void Gear for emphasis.

Usually when he called them idiots, it was a standard insult, but at that moment, Aqua genuinely felt like one.

“Um, thanks, I guess,” Ven said.

Vanitas smiled. “Like I said- you’re welcome.”

  


“Terra?”

He looked away from watching Ven and Vanitas bicker ahead. Aqua and Terra were consistently defeating more Heartless than they were, so they were constantly trying to create new strategies. It would be nice if it didn’t devolve into childish bickering almost every time. There were times where Aqua almost missed being alone in the Realm of Darkness.

Almost.

“Hm?”

“What happened at the Keyblade Graveyard?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“When we first landed at the Realm of Darkness, Vanitas mentioned that he was sucked in because he tried to attack Xehanort. But when we first arrived at the Keyblade Graveyard, he was fighting with Xehanort.”

Terra looked back ahead. “Vanitas didn’t attack right away. The man with the bow guns you mentioned tried to seperate me and Ven, but that didn’t work.” His expression darkened. “He had both eyes before the fight, but he grabbed Ven and started saying weird things about Dandelions and the past-” Terra sighed. “And then he only had one eye.”

Aqua had to bite back a smile. “I wonder if you were the one who took it out last time.”

Terra looked less amused. “Maybe. He ran off, and Vanitas tried to attack me from above like you said he would. We fought, but Ven kept asking him why he was attacking us. I remembered you said that Xehanort had hurt Vanitas, and I-” He took a shuddering breath. “It was the darkness in my heart. It told me what to say.”

Aqua touched his hand gently. “What did you say?”

“I said that if Xehanort hurt him, he should hurt Xehanort. And I meant it.”

“And Vanitas listened to you?”

Terra nodded.

“I think he saved us,” Aqua said.

“What do you mean?”

“There’s this mirror in the Dwarf Woodlands that can answer any question,” Aqua said.

“Yeah, I know,” Terra said. He narrowed his eyes. “I used it when I was looking for Xehanort.”

“I asked it how I could protect my friends, and he said, ‘In the dark does a child lay. Saving him will save the day.’”

Terra looked back at her. “And you think he meant Vanitas?”

“I know he did,” Aqua said. “He mentioned that he was attacking Xehanort’s heart at the graveyard. I think that was the only thing keeping it away from you.”

“Maybe.”

They looked back up to Ven and Vanitas. Their round of bickering had stopped, and now they were whispering conspiratorially. They could be two brothers walking down the street in any world. Aqua smiled.

“Even if he didn’t, I’m glad he’s here,” she said.

Of course, that’s when Vanitas leapt at Ven with murder in his eyes. Aqua sighed and watched to see if she needed to separate them. 

“Oh no.”

Aqua’s gasp made everyone look at her.

“What’s wrong?” Terra asked. 

In the distance, a white castle stood in stark contrast to the black sky. The landscape around them had changed as well, from a sandy wasteland into the beginnings of a pruned landscape.

“This is Cinderella’s world,” Aqua said.

Terra and Ven looked around with wide eyes. Vanitas narrowed his.

“Who’s Cinderella?” he asked.

“She’s a… friend of mine,” Aqua said. “And one of the seven Princesses of Heart.”

“Xehanort talked about those sometimes,” Vanitas said. “Something about back-ups.”

Aqua whirled around to face him. “What kind of back-ups?”

Vanitas shrugged. “I don’t know. He was more boring than the two of you put together.” He snorted. “It’s a miracle I remembered anything he said.”

Aqua’s heart sped up. Her breaths became quick and shallow.

_You can’t just drop something like that and then say you don’t remember! What if Xehanort went after Cinderella? I failed-_

“Aqua.” 

Ven took her hand. His voice and touch grounded her enough so she could control her breathing. After a moment, Terra spoke up.

“Did this happen last time?”

Aqua gazed up at the castle. “Yes. There’s no one here, though. The worlds fell to darkness, but none of the people did.” She closed her eyes. “Cinderella is safe. She has to be.”

With that, they entered the fallen world. They walked mostly in silence, only talking when necessary. The bridge collapsed, just like before, and they found the gears to hit. The first time Aqua journeyed through the empty town, she was plagued by guilt and regret. But her friends were beside her now, so there was no need for the memories to haunt her. The thought made her smile.

As they were about to cross the repaired bridge, Vanitas narrowed his eyes.

“Something’s wrong.”

Ven tilted his head. “What’s up?”

“It’s the Heartless. They’ve solidified. I can’t feel them individually.”

Stormfall came to Aqua’s hand in an instant. “The Demon Tower! It’s a swarm of Heartless.”

The rest of them summoned their Keyblades and approached carefully. The ground began to darken and bubble before a wave of Heartless shot from the ground. All four of them aimed their Shotlocks, and dozens of bolts of magic burst from their Keyblades. Instantly, half of the tower dissolved into smokey shadow, and the rest dispersed into individual Heartless. 

Aqua didn’t hesitate. Thundaga after Thundaga shot from Stormfall, incinerating the Heartless where they stood. Terra re-aimed his Shotlock and Ven threw Wayward Wind. Vanitas raised his hand and narrowed his eyes.

The Heartless began re-gathering into the tower. Aqua attacked some lingering Heartless, then jumped back to watch the tower. Ven and Terra followed suit, but Vanitas stayed where he was, concentrating intently on the writhing tower of Heartless.

Aqua took a breath to call out a warning, but she stopped herself. If he was concentrating, she didn’t want to break it. She raised Stormfall to prepare a barrier. 

The Demon Tower lurched left and right, like it was stumbling. Then, in an explosion of darkness, it dispersed back into individual Heartless. Aqua, Terra, and Ven all jumped back into the fight, taking out as many Heartless as they could. When Aqua defeated all of the Heartless around her, she turned to Vanitas.

He had thrust Void Gear into the ground and was leaning over it. His teeth were bared into a grimace, and his breathing was heavy. As if noticing his weakness, a swarm of Heartless gathered around him.

“Vanitas!” 

Vanitas looked up at Aqua’s shout. He ripped Void Gear from the ground and turned, but it was too late. Aqua raised Stormfall, but she didn’t know if the barrier would make it to him in time.

Suddenly, Wayward Wind cut through the Heartless like a knife through butter. Ven caught his Keyblade and finished off the last Heartless.

Aqua took another look around to make sure there were no remaining Heartless, then ran up to Vanitas. 

She expected him to snarl at them, but instead, she heard a very quiet, “Thank you.”

Ven’s smile was so bright Aqua was surprised she didn’t have to squint to see it. “Anytime, really!”

  


They continued through the fallen worlds. Aqua pointedly refused to look anywhere near Snow White’s coffin when they passed it, but otherwise, nothing felt very different than the other parts of the Realm of Darkness.

They stopped to rest in a clearing in Enchanted Dominion. Terra and Ven were ahead, trying to get Ven to see hearts. Vanitas and Aqua sat together, saying nothing. The sickly-sweet stench of darkness was lighter in the fallen worlds, or maybe she had adjusted to it. The grass was lush, even in a world with no light to sustain it. Aqua ran her fingers through it, relishing in its softness. The silence of the Realm of Darkness permeated the air, making every breath audible.

Finally, Aqua spoke up. “Vanitas, what were your friends like?”

“Did my idiot brother ask you to ask that?”

“Huh? Oh, no, Ven didn’t ask me. I was simply curious.”

Vanitas scowled. “He keeps asking me about them.”

“Is there a reason you’re not telling him?”

“He’s lucky that he doesn’t remember,” Vanitas said.

“Are the memories that painful?” Aqua asked.

“Why do you care?” Vanitas snapped.

Aqua smiled softly. “I care about you.”

Vanitas looked away. “You’re so sentimental. It’s stupid.”

“Compassion is not stupid.”

Vanitas said nothing. 

He was plucking the grass one blade at a time. His face was still frozen in a scowl. In the distance, Heartless stirred. The grass was starting to be a bit itchy, so Aqua shifted her position. Ven whooped in joy ahead of them, but soon he and Terra went back to meditating.

“You’re too much like Skuld,” Vanitas finally said.

“Hm?”

“My friend, idiot. She was gentle and stupidly sentimental, just like you are.”

Aqua smiled. “Is Terra like Ephemer?”

Vanitas scoffed. “No way. Ephemer was nice too, but he was mischievous. Why Lady Ava chose him to lead us, I have no idea. I guess she chose him because he was clever.” Vanitas smiled wryly. “And he wasn’t nearly as crazy as Brain was.”

“What was Brain like?”

Vanitas’s smile faded. “He looked a lot like your master, except closer to our age. He wore this stupid feathered hat and was always working on some crazy project.”

“What kind of projects?” Aqua asked. 

“I don’t even know. At least they were more productive than Lauriam’s.”

Vanitas’s smile shifted into his old sadistic one. Aqua had hoped she would never see it again.

Hoping to steer the conversation to lighter topics, she simply said, “Your friends sound nice. I would like to meet them one day.”

Was that grief on Vanitas’s face?

“Good luck,” he said bitterly. “They’re gone.”

“But at the Destiny Islands, you said-”

“I was being stupid then. Something... bad happened, and we were scattered through the wind.” Vanitas barked a humorless laugh. “Like dandelions.”

  


They reached the end of the path, which should have been impossible.

Vanitas scowled at Aqua. “I thought you knew the way out.”

Aqua looked around. It was the clearing where she had chased the visions of Terra and Ven. The realization made her breath catch in her throat- it was the last time she had seen the Terra from the original timeline. Just the memory of his attempt to fight Xehanort back shot grief through her heart.

“Aqua?”

Terra was still himself now. His hair was brown and his eyes were blue and he was looking at her with concern.

“Aqua,” he repeated, “are you okay?”

_I’ve already fixed this. I’ll destroy that timeline if it’s the last thing I do._

Aqua centered herself and looked up. “I am now. Last time, I was chasing visions of you two until I caught up to you here. Then a Darkside dragged me into the depths of the realm through a portal.”

Vanitas smiled smugly. “A portal, hm?” He stretched out his hand, and a corridor of darkness appeared.

Ven whooped with joy. “Vanitas, you did it!”

“Do you know where it leads?” Aqua asked.

Vanitas’s smug grin faltered. “It’s away from here, and that’s what matters.”

Terra frowned. “Do we have a choice?”

“I don’t think so,” Aqua said.

She summoned her helmet, and Ven and Terra followed suit.

Vanitas smirked. “I thought you would look better with your helmets on, but you still look ridiculous.”

Ven might have shouted something as a retort, but it was lost in his helmet, so he just reached over and flicked Vanitas’s forehead. Aqua separated them before they could get into another fight and gestured to the corridor. They all stepped through.

The instant they were on the other side of the portal, they were dragged down like stones in a dark lake. Vanitas flailed like a drowning man, probably remembering his fall into the Realm of Darkness. Aqua experimented with a few kicks, like she was swimming, and she was propelled forward. She dismissed her helmet.

“It’s like water,” she said. “We can move through it easily. I believe there’s ground below us.”

Ven and Terra removed their helmets and started swimming. Vanitas was still flailing, so Aqua surrounded him with a barrier until he stopped struggling. She reached to take his hand, but he flinched back, so she just demonstrated how to move.

Once they reached the bottom, Aqua froze. A familiar silhouette was moving through the rocky path they had landed in.

“Mickey,” she whispered.

As if he heard her, his eyes shot in their direction. Aqua dove behind a rock formation.

Terra and Ven joined her, even though their shifting eyes told her they didn’t know what they were hiding from.

“Why are you crouching behind a rock?” Vanitas asked with a condescending edge in his voice.

Aqua’s cheeks burned, but she didn’t back down. “It’s Mickey. I can’t let him see me.”

Ven snuck a peek. “That’s Mickey?”

“Who’s Mickey?” Vanitas asked.

“He’s a Keyblade wielder apprenticed to Master Yen Sid. I met him last timeline. He’s here to save the Realm of Light, but I can’t meet him.”

“Because you want to change destiny, right?” Terra asked.

Aqua nodded.

“That mouse is a Keyblade wielder?” Vanitas asked. “He looks pathetic.”

Aqua shot him a glance. “He defeated you in the last timeline.”

Well, they were working together at the time, but that wasn’t important.

“He’s coming closer,” Ven hissed. “What should we do?”

Vanitas summoned Void Gear with a smirk. “Isn’t it obvious? We make him go away.”

“No!” Aqua whisper-yelped. “You can’t destroy him! His mission is important!”

Vanitas matched her volume. “I never said I’d destroy him. Just rough him up a little.”

Terra put his hand on her shoulder. “I can go with him to make sure he doesn’t get carried away.”

“Hey, I wanna go too!” Ven grumbled.

Aqua couldn’t bite back the giggle that escaped her lips. “Alright. Just be sure to wear your helmets. I don’t think it would be a good idea for him to see your faces.”

Ven and Terra obliged. Vanitas seemed pleasantly surprised when a copy of his helmet appeared in his hands. He shoved it on his head as fast as he could and ran out from their cover, whooping.

“OPEN SEASON ON THE MOUSE!”

Aqua watched as Mickey’s eyes widened comically as he saw three masked Keyblade wielders rush at him from nowhere. He summoned Star Seeker and narrowed his eyes at them, but his Keyblade was knocked away by Ends of the Earth. Mickey yelped as Ven and Vanitas ran at him, swiping at him like a dog nipping at the heels of a sheep.

Mickey turned and ran, Ven and Vanitas hot on his heels. Terra had changed Ends of the Earth into his Ultima Cannon, and was shooting small bolts of magic at him. Mickey regained his footing and summoned Star Seeker again, but before he could do much, Vanitas hit Star Seeker so hard it knocked him into the bright entry to the fallen Destiny Islands.

Ven took off his helmet and cheered. Vanitas took his off as well and gave Ven a high-five, grinning like a kid in a candy store.

Aqua couldn’t help it- laughter bubbled up from her heart until she could hardly breathe from it. Tears even formed in the corner of her eyes.

They might have just put the Realm of Light in a little more danger.

But it was so _funny._

  


The path, once they found it again, was beginning to look familiar, almost painfully so. It stretched ahead of them as far as the eye could see. The surrounding land was flat and dead. The soil was drained of color, and the Heartless were so ruthless even Vanitas had trouble keeping them away.

They were walking in silence when Vanitas summoned Void Gear with a huff.

“That does it. I’m getting sick of this.”

For a second, Aqua froze. Was he betraying them after all? Was she wrong to put her faith in him?

Vanitas threw Void Gear into the air, where it shifted and changed. By the time it had reached him again, it was changed into a glider. Vanitas hopped on. It was like Ven’s, but had a pair of handles at arm level.

Ven grinned. “You did it!”

Vanitas smiled, but she could tell he was trying to fight it. “Now we can all use them to get out of here.”

“What do you mean?” Terra asked.

“Did you really not think of this?” Vanitas asked back. “If we all use our gliders, we can move faster and avoid most of the Heartless.”

It was nice to have Vanitas’s schemes work for them instead of against them. They all mounted their gliders and zipped through the path like it was a single step.

  


Some time later, stone protrusions closed in on the path, preventing them from using their gliders. It almost felt like stone was suffocating them, and the blue glow they emitted felt more cold than comforting. 

“Ven?” Aqua called.

“Yeah?”

“I’m here for you if you want to Ven-t about something.”

Vanitas rolled his eyes, but Ven giggled, and the sound made her heart brighter than the cold glow of the stones could dampen. 

“Why did you make such a bad pun?” Terra groaned.

Aqua ruffled Ven’s hair. “I wanted to see him smile.”

“Next time, please use an actually good joke,” Vanitas said. “I will send the Heartless to attack you.”

Aqua’s eyes landed on something ahead, cutting her chuckle short.

“Aqua?” Ven asked. “What’s wrong?”

Aqua didn’t answer. She approached the shape leaning against a stone protrusion. It felt like she wanted to run towards it and run away from it in equal measure.

“Do you see something?” Terra asked.

She only allowed herself to truly see the shape when she kneeled down in front of it. The ground seemed to give way below her. Her heart felt like it was going to jump out of her chest.

“Can you hear us?” Vanitas snapped. “Say something.”

“I- do you see this?”

Ven knelt down next to her and squinted. “See what?”

“My body.”

It was slumped against the stone like it was resting. There was no life to it; it wasn’t even breathing, but it was clutching a blue Wayfinder and smiling peacefully.

“I don’t see it,” Terra said.

She remembered Master Eraqus’s words:

_“If you made it to the point in time where you first traveled through time, I can only surmise that your original timeline would become inaccessible.”_

“This is where I left behind my body to travel to the past. I made it.”

The others said nothing.

Aqua smiled at the image of her body. “I did it. Things are better now. I couldn’t fix everything, but I got a second chance. We all did.”

She reached out and brushed her cheek. When she touched the image, it began to dissolve into particles of light. They were like floating stars, drifting away before fading, as if they had never existed at all.

  


Aqua heard it first. At first, she thought she was imagining it, but they only got louder as they sped down the path. She held out an arm to signal the others to stop. Vanitas floated for a bit before he wrestled his glider into stopping. 

“Do you hear that?” she asked.

“You hear it, too?” Terra asked.

“Hear what?” Ven asked.

“Waves,” Terra said. “Like we’re nearing an ocean.”

Aqua felt drawn to their soft murmur. She landed her glider and removed her armor.

“Aqua!” Terra called. “It’s not safe.”

“Can’t you feel it?” she asked. “We’re close to something.”

Ven landed, removed his armor, and closed his eyes. “I can see something! There’s two hearts of light ahead.”

“You’re right,” Terra said as he landed. After a pause, he dismissed his armor.

“Finally, you’re out of that stupid armor” Vanitas muttered. Louder, he said, “There’s darkness ahead, but it’s not Heartless.”

Aqua nearly ran down the path, towards the light she first felt and then sensed. 

Finally, she saw.

The path had widened into a rocky cove. Dark, twisted spires loomed above the inky-black water. The only light came from a pale, washed-out mockery of the sun. But there were two boys sitting there, relaxed despite the location. They were around Ven’s age, one with pale hair, and the other with brown spikes that reminded her of-

“Sora?” Ven gasped.

The two boys turned. If that was Sora, then the boy next to him couldn’t be anyone other than Riku.

“Big brother Ven? Big brother Vanitas?”

Vanitas blinked. “Big brother?”

He yelped as Sora threw his arms around them both. Ven was laughing as he held his brothers, and Vanitas, to Aqua’s surprise, returned the embrace.

“Terra?”

Riku’s voice was so deep now, but it was so soft that Aqua could barely hear it.

Terra smiled and opened his arms. “And you will find me, friend. No ocean will contain you then.”

Riku stumbled to his feet, but he could do nothing but stare.

“Riku!” Sora called. “I knew Roxas looked familiar. He looks just like Ven!”

“Who’s Roxas?” Ven asked.

Sora tucked his hands behind his head in a gesture reminiscent of Ven and Vanitas, and chuckled. “He’s, uh, me? Kind of. It’s a long story.”

“What are you doing here?” Riku finally asked.

“It’s my fault,” Aqua said. “I tried to trap Xehanort here, but instead I dragged them down here. We’ve been traveling through the Realm of Darkness ever since.”

Sora smiled. It was just as bright as Ven’s. “Don’t worry, Aqua! We defeated Xehanort’s Heartless and his Nobody. He’s gone!”

“He is?”

Xehanort was gone, so she should feel relief. All Aqua could feel was guilt. As Keyblade Masters, it was their duty to protect the worlds, but without them, little Sora and Riku were forced to do it for them. It wasn’t fair.

“Good riddance,” Vanitas said. “But it’s a shame. I was looking forward to getting a few more hits in.”

“Aqua!” Ven grabbed her arm and looked up at her. His eyes were practically sparkling with excitement. “Sora is taller than Vanitas now! Isn’t that awesome?”

“He is not!” Vanitas called. “Just because his hair is longer-”

A small smile appeared on Aqua’s lips. “Yes. I can see why that’s exciting. Especially since you’re taller than both of them.”

Ven straightened. “Am I really?”

Ven ran off to Sora and Vanitas, arguing back and forth about who was taller. 

_What is it with boys and height competitions?_

Either way, they were all overshadowed by Terra and Riku, who was staring at Terra like he was from a dream.

“Did you keep my secret?” Terra finally asked.

“Yes! I kept looking for a way to the outside world to find you, but-” Riku’s face fell. “I messed up. Maleficent used me and-”

“Maleficent?” Aqua hissed.

She should have struck that witch down when she had the chance.

Riku looked away. “I turned to the darkness and betrayed Sora. I’m sorry. I abused your gift.”

Terra shook his head. “This is my fault. You needed someone to guide you, and I wasn’t there.”

Because he had dove in after Aqua. It was her fault.

“But I had to look after Aqua,” he continued, “like she watched after us.”

Riku smiled. “I understand.” He looked over at Sora. “Strength, to protect what matters. Right?”

Terra smiled.

Sora bounced (there was no other word to describe how he moved) over.

“What are you guys talking about?”

Before anyone could answer, Ven nudged something with his foot. “What’s this?”

They all circled the object.

It was a corked bottle. A piece of slightly aged paper was curled inside it. Riku picked it up and fetched the letter. He scanned it.

“Sora?”

“Hm?”

He handed Sora the letter. “I think it’s for you.”

“Thinking of you, wherever you are,” Sora read.

As he read the rest of the letter in silence, something began glowing over the dark water. It widened into a door.

“Light,” Riku said.

“The door to light,” Sora murmured.

Like in the story.

Sora held out his hands to his friends. “We’ll go together.”

Vanitas squinted at the glowing door. “No thanks. I have my own way out.”

A corridor of darkness began forming under him.

Ven looked at him with pleading eyes. “Why won’t you come with us?”

Aqua put her hand on Ven’s shoulder and looked into Vanitas’s eyes. “See you on the other side.”

“Don’t count on it.”

But, as Vanitas disappeared into darkness, Aqua knew in her heart he would be there.

Sora walked through the door of light, Riku by his side.

Ven held out his hands. “What are we waiting for?”

Terra and Aqua took his hands and, together, they stepped into the light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is late! I was very busy today.  
> Thank you for reading this far. We only have one chapter left- the epilogue.


	12. Epilogue: The Realm of Light

Epilogue: The Realm of Light

  
Aqua was falling.

It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling. She felt like a star, shooting through the sky, towards wherever she was destined to land.

Then she hit the water.

For an instant, she sunk below the surface, before emerging from the water with a gasp. The sun was setting, turning the sky to gold. For an instant, Aqua stared at the light in the sky, entranced by its beauty.

“Sora!” a voice called. “Riku!”

Aqua turned to the voice. A girl with red hair was waving her arms on a shore. Aqua recognized the land behind her as the Destiny Islands.

Ven and Terra emerged from the water. It was shallow enough for Terra to stand after a single stroke, and soon they were all on their feet, moving towards the island.

Sora and Riku were ahead of them. Sora was running through the water, tripping over himself in his excitement to get to the girl. Before he could, Donald and Goofy appeared and tackled him in a hug. He laughed as they bowled him over back into the surf. With a leap of joy, Mickey ran at Riku, who caught him and spun him around. Sora was nuzzling his face with Donald and Goofy, who were almost laughing in pure happiness.

A smile split over Aqua’s face.

Sora looked back.

“Come on, you guys!”

Aqua, Terra, and Ven stumbled onto the shore. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy looked at them with curiosity, but the girl was smiling at Sora, giggling. Sora dug out a Wayfinder and looked up at her. For a second, the sun hit Sora and the girl so their hair looked like gold.

“We-we’re back,” Sora said sheepishly.

The girl smiled and held out her hand. “You’re home.”

Sora clapped the Wayfinder into her hand, and she pulled him out of the water.

“See?” a familiar voice said. “You’re all wet. My way is better.”

Vanitas stepped out of a corridor of darkness with a smug smile.

“Big brother Vanitas!” Sora called as he ran toward him.

“I just saw you,” Vanitas grumbled. “And stop calling me that!”

The girl looked over at them. “Big brother Vanitas is real?”

Sora and Vanitas wore twin offended expressions.

“Of course I’m real!” Vanitas said. “My brother’s real, too. Even if I wish he weren’t.”

Ven stuck his tongue at Vanitas out before turning to the girl.

“I’m Ventus, but everyone calls me Ven.”

“You look just like Roxas,” the girl said. 

He smiled sheepishly. “So I’ve been told.”

“My name’s Kairi.”

Aqua gasped. “You’re the little Princess of Heart we saved.” She smiled. “I’m glad my spell worked.”

Kairi looked at Aqua for a second in confusion, but Sora grabbed her attention away with a hug and a laugh. 

“We’re really home! I can’t believe it!”

They pressed their foreheads together. The gesture was similar to the ones with Donald and Goofy, but it looked different in a way that Aqua couldn’t put her finger on. Riku walked over, and Sora did the same to him. Riku smiled. 

“It’s nice to meetcha,” a familiar voice squeaked. 

Aqua looked down and froze. Mickey was standing in front of her, hand stretched out. 

Terra put his hand on her shoulder with a gentle smile. “It’s okay, Aqua. You’ve already changed destiny.”

Aqua grabbed his hand. “Nice to meet you, Mickey. I’m Aqua, and this is Terra.”

Mickey’s eyes widened a bit in surprise at the names. Then he smiled. “Gosh, Master Eraqus is going to be so happy to hear you’re alright.”

At the sound of the name, Terra, Ven, and Aqua all froze. 

“How is he?” Aqua asked urgently. 

“He’s been lookin for ya,” Mickey said. 

Before Mickey could answer, Sora trotted over. “You guys know Master Eraqus?”

“They’re his lost students, idiot.” Riku said without bite. 

Sora’s eyes widened. “Ohhhhh. That makes a lot of sense.”

Aqua wanted to ask how they knew their master, but she wanted to see him first. 

“Where is he?” Ven asked. 

“The Land of Departure,” Mickey said. “It’s where you train, right?”

Terra and Ven didn’t hesitate. They instantly summoned their armor and gliders, ignoring the awed glances of everyone else. 

Aqua looked at Vanitas. “Do you want to come?”

He looked away. “No. But I will anyway. And if he attacks me, I’m going to defend myself.”

“Understood,” Aqua said. “It might help if you use your glider with us.” She summoned her armor and glider. 

Vanitas grumbled, but threw Void Gear into the air anyway, jumping on when it circled back to him. 

“I’ll be back,” he said to Sora. “And they will too.”

They zipped into the air together. Aqua looked down. Everyone was shouting and waving goodbye. Aqua waved back before turning and racing to her home. 

  


It was early morning at the Land of Departure. The sun shone softly on the trees and dew coated the grass. It looked exactly like it had the day before and a decade ago. 

The four of them skidded to a stop outside of the castle, dismissing their armor and gliders. Instantly, the giant doors flew open. 

Master Eraqus stood in the doorway, Master Keeper in a ready position. He wore the same robe he always had, and his eyes were still sharp. His hair, once streaked with gray, had now turned completely white. When his eyes landed on them, he nearly dropped his Keyblade in shock. 

“It can’t be,” he whispered. “Aqua? Terra? Ventus?”

Aqua’s eyes spilled over with tears. Terra was crying too hard to speak. 

“Master,” Ven said, his voice cracking with emotion. 

Master Eraqus narrowed his eyes and spun his Keyblade towards Vanitas. 

“I knew it. It was a trick, an illusion from the darkness!”

Vanitas held his hands out. “Relax, old man. I come in peace. Unless you’re stupid enough to attack me.”

Master Eraqus looked back at Aqua, Terra, and Ven. 

“He-he’s okay, Master,” Aqua said through her tears. “He saved us.”

Finally, Master Eraqus dismissed Master Keeper. Tears dripped down his wrinkled and scarred face. He held out his arms. 

Ven flew into them, grabbing Master Eraqus as tight as he could. Aqua was right behind him. Terra was last, encircling all of them in his arms. 

Master Eraqus’s whisper was hoarse but gentle. 

“Welcome home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! This was a lot of fun to write, and I'm glad you all enjoyed reading it as well. Thank you to the people who commented saying they liked this.  
> This idea came to me while watching Stickman Shan's video "firewheel," where Aqua defeats Terranort by setting herself on fire and rolling into him for three minutes straight. It's an actual exploit you can use to defeat Terranort due to a glitch in his stagger code. But it gave me the idea of a time loop Aqua who's been through the events of BBS so many times she knows all of the exploits. I started thinking about her first time back, and I spent so much time plotting that it became her only time back, and, thus, A Second Chance was born. I stayed up all night plotting every beat of the story until the Keyblade Graveyard, when exhaustion hit me like a brick. It was like 5 AM and I had work in the morning T.T  
> Fun fact: the first ending I thought of was Aqua taking Xehanort's heart and returning to the future ala Grovyle from PMD and telling that timeline's Aqua to 'take care of them' but that was sad and I don't like sad endings. Besides, then I got to write the darkness road trip.  
> I'm currently working on my next Kingdom Hearts AU called "Loved or Feared." A Second Chance is a light-hearted romp that mostly follows canon and doesn't have too much conflict. Loved or Feared is an extremely gritty royal AU about abuse. In some ways, it's as different from A Second Chance as night is to day, but if you're as much of a sucker for Wayfinder family as I am, maybe you should check it out. If you're interested, I'll probably start posting Loved or Feared in two weeks or so (late Oct 2019 for those of you in the future). Updates for that will be much more frequent, because the finished product is probably going to be at least 125k words compared to this one's 53k words.  
> If you're not, thanks for reading anyway. Did you remember to drink your water?


End file.
